


Dreamers of Dreams

by roguebattles



Series: The YouTuber Collection [1]
Category: Game Grumps, Ninja Sex Party - Fandom, Starbomb (Band)
Genre: ADHD, Anxiety, Bands, Break Up, Comedy, Convention, Depression, Eating Disorders, F/M, Female Protagonist, Female Reader, Fluff, Gaming, Hate, Heartbreak, Love, Mental Disorders, Music, Romance, Sex, Singing, Smut, Video & Computer Games, YouTube, Youtuber - Freeform, dark backstory, netflix, relationship, trigger warning, video games - Freeform, vlogging - Freeform, you - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-17
Updated: 2017-03-25
Packaged: 2018-08-23 02:20:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 36,439
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8310028
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/roguebattles/pseuds/roguebattles
Summary: It's a dream... Or at least, it feels like a dream. Just two days ago, I was sitting at my crappy computer desk in my crappy one-bedroom apartment; and now? I'm living in California, the place where dreams are made of. And it's where mine will begin to become reality. Meeting people I'd never thought I'd have the opportunity to meet, my life begins to mold into something worth fighting for. Who knows what'll happen next? I don't. But I can't wait to find out.Note: I will put a trigger warning at the beginning of each chapter I deem necessary, but chapters like that won't be very frequent as I don't want to scare people away from reading.





	1. Chapter 1

It's crazy how quickly things can change in a person's life, isn't it? You can be a billionaire one minute and gamble it all the next. You can be the happiest person in all the world, then suddenly be depressed. One minute you can be studying in college, the next you can be moving states to go officially start your new career. It's crazy, isn't it?

I rolled over in my bed with a quiet complaint, pulling the covers tighter around me. I lifted my face off the pillow and opened up one eye - or rather, squinted through one eye - to see my phone lit up as it screamed "Man Enough" at me. With another groan, I pulled one hand out from the warmth underneath the covers to grab my phone and swipe the screen to the right to turn off the alarm. I dropped my head back to the pillow with a contented sigh once the song was over, just wanting to snuggle back into the mattress and sleep for another millennia. I had just rested for a couple seconds before my eyes shot open with a sudden realisation. "I'm moving today." I whispered to myself, my voice almost completely muffled by the pillow. I turned myself over and sat up, covers falling to rest on my lap. "I'm moving today." I just needed to say it again to make sure I wasn't still dreaming, before I pulled the covers aside and climbed out of bed. 

The clock I had hanging on the wall at the end of the bed read 6am, and I knew the moving van would arrive at 9 to pick up any furniture I was taking across the country with me. It wouldn't be much, since I knew I wanted to buy new stuff. Even the full amount I did have wouldn't of filled even half of the new place I was moving into. I made my way to the bathroom to take my final shower in my old, rusty apartment, a bitter-sweet sensation filling the atmosphere. I was happy to be entering a new chapter of my life, but at the same time I knew I was gonna miss this place. I'd lived there for all of my adult life, ever since I was 18. It felt weird to be leaving it behind, knowing in about a week a new tenant would be living here. I shook that thought out of my head as I stripped down to my birthday suit, shoving my pyjamas in the corner to pack later, before climbing into the shower. I let the warm water cascade down my back for a couple minutes, just enjoying the relaxing sensation it washed over me. All the tension and the worries from moving were gone in those few short minutes, and I could just live in the moment and enjoy the simpler things of life. 

I quickly washed my hair and my body before climbing out, reaching to grab one of the towels off the radiator where they were being kept warm. I wrapped it around my body before grabbing the second one, using it to wrap my hair in a hair-turban. I giggled at myself as I stepped in front of the sink to brush my teeth, being able to see myself in the small head-height mirror above it. I wondered if old women wrapped their hair like that after a shower. I know I'd been doing it for as long as I could remember. I shook my head again as I realised how spacey my mind could get, just wandering off to think about random topics. I spat out the toothpaste before taking a mouthful of water, swishing it around, and spitting that out too. I was almost bouncing with excitement as I made my way back to my room. 

I sat down on the end of my bed and looked around the room for a moment, just taking in the sight that I was leaving behind. The walls were painted a very pale pink colour, almost mistakable for white, with one corner being plastered top to bottom with black sound proof foaming. My desk was in front of that, but what usually sat on it had already been carefully packed into boxes. My self-built computer was usually there, alongside a Canon EOS 60D sat on a tripod, several gaming consoles, and a blue yeti microphone. The whole lot had been packed away the day before, since I knew it would take time and effort and I wasn't sure I could muster that sort of cautiousness at such an early time.

Besides the sound proof foaming were three separate shelves, about 5ft tall and 2ft wide. One was full of Playstation games, one was full of X-Box games, and the final one was full of games I liked to label "other". Games for the Wii, games for DS or even old-school Gameboy games. Over my years of living I had hoarded enough video games to never play the same one more than once, though of course I always did.   
  
Next to the door, there was a 7ft tall, 3ft wide, oak book case completely full of all sorts of books. Some were classics like the "Harry Potter" series, while others were some of Stephen King's horror novels, and some were unknown books which you found and cherished like "Loving Danny" and "Left Behind". There was even a whole shelf dedicated strictly to YouTube books; Pewdiepie's "This Book Loves You", Zoella's "Girl Online", Dan and Phil's "The Amazing Book is Not on Fire". There was definitely something for anybody to read in that book case, and I was proud of the collection I had gathered. That wasn't even all of it; I had at least another two dozen books in boxes underneath my bed that just wouldn't fit onto the shelf. Half of the books I'd never even read, but I knew that I would one day. 

An empty chest of drawers stood at the end of the bed, pressed against the wall. It was four drawers tall, but all the contents had, again, been carefully packed away into boxes, prepared to be moved. 

The rest of the room was pretty simple; grey carpet, white curtains framing the double-open windows behind the bed, with white and black patterned bedsheets. I never was the type of person to over-complicate things by hanging up posters and canvas frames. Mostly because I could never decide what to get or where to put it. Perhaps that would change in my new place. 

I glanced up at the clock again, finding it was 6.45. I still had stuff to pack and I wasn't even dressed, so I made it my business to get a move on things. After drying myself with the towel, I changed into clothes that I knew would be comfortable for driving for extended periods of time. I put on black leggings and paired them with a baggy black vest top which read "Anything Goes" in white cursive. I had left out my black combat boots the night before when I was packing up my clothing, knowing they would be the most comfortable and the most likely pair that I would wear. They sat by the front door with socks already shoved inside them, ready to put on when I left. 

"Right, come on, [Y/N]. Time to get started." I tried motivating myself once I had changed and ran a quick brush through my shower-wet hair. I shoved my pyjamas and two towels into a bag that was full of dirty washing, placing it on top of one of the piles of boxes in the living room. That room had been pretty much emptied of what I was bringing, having just the two sofas left and an old coffee table. I made my way back into my bedroom with three large cardboard boxes, kneeling down besides my towering bookcase to start packing them away. I had them lined up on the shelves in alphabetical order by author's surnames, so I decided to keep the organisation with the moving boxes, so that it wasn't too much hassle when I unpacked them at my new place. I grabbed a felt-tip marker and labelled the first box "A-J", the second box "K-Q" and the third "R-Z".

For the next two hours I just continued to pack anything that I hadn't yet, including my collection of video games, any other technical equipment I had stored away for one reason of the other, and just general pieces that had been laying around that I wanted to keep. Before I knew it, there was a knock at my door. 

"Hello!" I beamed as I opened the door, seeing two men in their early forties greeting me.   
"Hey, we're the moving men here to pick up your furniture and stuff?" The smaller of the two men said, and I nodded politely.   
"Yeah, that's right, you're dead on time. Come on in." I opened the door wide for them to both enter, stepping to the side to give them more space. I had separated the boxes into two different piles for convenience; one was what I would be taking in my Chevy Pickup, and the other was what would be transported in the main moving van. I was taking my important stuff while they were carrying mostly furniture. 

"So, um, this stuff here needs to be taken in the van. I booked it to carry stuff for two rooms, so this is about that." I gestured to the part of the living room that had my TV, clothes, kitchen supplies, bathroom supplies, bedding, curtains, and other accessories. The two men nodded in unison and began to get to work while I did my last couple of loops around the house to ensure I wasn't leaving anything behind. Once I was done, I began loading my essentials into my own truck. I secured the boxes with my books into the bed of my truck, also shoving some suitcases in there that was carrying some necessary clothes and toiletries in case I needed them. I pulled the tarpaulin over securely as a precaution, tying it tightly so that it wouldn't come loose. The tech equipment and more fragile-items I put in the 'trunk' of the truck, in the compartment behind where the seats were, securing them down also. They were inside and weren't at risk of getting wet, and so didn't need a tarpaulin covering. 

By the time I was done loading my truck, I came back to my ground-level apartment to find the moving men moving the last of the boxes into their van. I smiled slightly, knowing that I was completely done with this place. "All ready to go, Miss [Y/L/N]?" One of the men said to from behind, and I nodded as I turned around to face him.   
"You have the address, right?" He nodded. "Okay, well I need to lock up this place and then I'm hitting the road. Thank you for all your help, I'll see you in Cali!"

I turned and walked back up to the house, doing one, last, paranoid sweep of the house. "Okay, [Y/N], you've got everything. Now let's go." I pulled the front door shut and locked it with the key, before placing it in the safe spot I had agreed with the landlord. He had agreed to pick it up at 10.30, which was only about half an hour away, so I knew it would be safe. I climbed into my truck with a small, shaky sigh, glancing into my rearview mirror at the place I once called home. "Goodbye. It was nice knowing you." I put the key into the ignition and pulled out of my parking space and onto the road, finally beginning my new adventure.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Y/N] = Your Name  
> [Y/L/N] = Your Last Name  
> [Y/C/N] = Your Channel Name (for Youtube)  
> [Y/E/C] = Your Eye Colour  
> [Y/H/C] = Your Hair Colour

It was over an hour before it seemed like I had made any progress on my travels, having lived in the centre of a bustling city. For miles and miles, everything seemed the same; shops, people, business buildings, fancy houses. That was pretty much it up until I reached the state border. I had hit a less densely populated area, though it still had houses scattered along the sides, when I finally saw the large, fancy billboard with cursive writing on it. 'The People of Iowa Welcome You". I had finally left my state of Illinois, unsure whether I would ever return for any sort of reason. I didn't have any family there, and barely any friends who cared enough to keep in contact. The moment I crossed that border it truly felt as if I was leaving behind a life full of regret and secrets for good, ready to turn a brand new page in my book. 

I looked to my right at the stereo display to see it was just gone 11am, and sighed. One hour down, another twenty-five to go. I would have to stop in a couple hours for a break, before hitting the road again. I had made it my goal to get to at least the border of Colorado before midnight, which I had driven before. It took me 11 hours without stopping to drive from my home in Illinois to just inside the state border of Colorado, meaning hopefully I should make it there this time at about 10pm. I would set off early in the morning, maybe 6, for another 15 hour journey. It was a long trek, but it was worth it to get to where my dreams would hopefully begin to become reality. My only worry was that the moving van would get lost or something. It was Friday, and they had agreed to drop off my stuff at the new place in California Monday morning. That gave them more than enough time, right? 

"Come on, [Y/N], stop worrying. That's their job, your stuff will be fine." I shook the anxiety off and moved my right hand to my phone to put on some music. I kept my eyes carefully on the road, glancing down to my phone only for a split second to see what I was doing. I wasn't exactly 'on my phone' so I was okay with risking it. I turned on the bluetooth to connect to my truck before putting on my main playlist, which was full of a variety of different music. For the most part it was rock bands like Def Leppard and Rush, but there was some Ninja Sex Party and Starbomb and Random Encounters thrown in there too. I put it on shuffle and put all my focus back onto the road, waiting for the music to kick in. 

The playlist had chosen 'Mega Marital Problems' from Starbomb's Ex Plus Alpha album, and I giggled to myself as I heard Danny Sexbang from NSP's voice start the song off in the form of an impression of Dr Wily from Mega Man. I bobbed my head with a grin on my face as I sang - or rather, rapped - along with Arin as the verse began. I enjoyed Starbomb because it wasn't your typical band - they made fun of classic video games, while still being entertaining and giving them a special twist. Plus, I was kind of a sucker for Arin's voice. Don't blame me! Have you heard it? Also Danny's voice...

"Cut it out, [Y/N]." I laughed at myself and shook my head, seeing I was going off into a day dream about the two Grumps. "You've got a road to work." I looked over my stats on the control panel for the truck, making sure I had enough gas and the vehicle was in working order in general. I had a long drive to go, and I didn't want to make that even longer because of a flat tire or something. 

***

I pulled up to a parking space before pulling the hand brake with a sigh. "Ho-ly, crap." I complained as I shrunk back into the soft bench of the truck, looking at the display on the stereo. It read '10.45pm', reflecting the darkness surrounding my truck. I had stopped in Nebraska for a break at about 5, but there was a huge car crash on the main highway which had delayed me further, making the journey longer than necessary. At least I made it here in one piece. I turned off the ignition and pocketed the keys, glancing at the building in front of me as I climbed out.

The motel I had stopped at to stay the night was somewhat decent, not being as sleazy as some. It had janky orange-painted brick walls with a couple of vending machines in between the doors of the rooms. It looked new-ish, the sign flashing bright and the walls seeming freshly painted. I made sure all my valuables were hidden in the truck, setting the alarm to sensitive just to be sure, before grabbing my over-night bag and locking the vehicle. I made my way over to reception with a tired yawn, rubbing my eyes. Driving for so long really took it out of you, especially when you were alone with no form of entertainment. At one point I had just turned on the YIAY playlist from Jacksfilms, and listened to the entertaining content as I drove. 

I walked into the reception and saw a young boy working behind the desk, definitely a couple years younger than me. He was about 6ft with curly, dark brown hair, and wore geek-style glasses which seemed to be a little too big for him. I greeted him with a smile, and he returned it. "Hello there! How may I help you?"  
"Hi! I'd like to book a room for the night?" I folded my arms and leaned against the desk, being slightly too short to lean comfortably on it.   
"Of course, I'd be happy to help." The boy grinned again and moved to his computer, typing in something on the keyboard and scanning the screen. "A room for how many?"  
"Just me."   
"Of course, just a moment."

I nodded with a smile as a thank you, pushing myself off the desk to move to look at the room. It was a small box-room painted white with black-and-white-checkered floor tiling. There were a couple of sofas next to a circle table with a vase of flowers. The walls were adorned with several different paintings of various cliche subjects like bowls of fruit. 

"Excuse me, Ma'am?" The young boy called for me and I turned around to face him with a smile, walking back up to the desk. "What time will you be checking out? We have 6am checkout, 8am, or 10am."  
"I'd like to leave quite early, so I think the 6am leave will be the best." He nodded in agreement before typing again on his keypad. "That'll be $43." I pulled out my purse from the outer zip of my bag, searching though for my card. I put it in the machine, typed in my pin, before taking the card back and tucking my purse back into my bag. The boy printed out a receipt that I had to sign before taking it. "Thank you for your help." I smiled at the boy, who seemed to blush slightly.  
"I'm just doing my job. You're room twenty-six. I hope you enjoy your stay!" He beamed at me as he gave me the key, and I nodded as I turned on my heels and walked out of the reception. 

I looked over the receipt, as I always do when I get receipts, and stopped in my tracks as I looked at the bottom. There was a ten-digit number which I could only assume was the boy's phone number. I laughed in surprise before shaking my head, shoving the receipt in my bag as I approached my room for the night. 

I settled in pretty quickly, throwing my bag on the chair besides a desk which had a mirror placed on it. I didn't bother to unpack anything, since I was only staying the one night. I cleaned my face up, washed my teeth, and changed into my pyjamas. I grabbed my phone and charger before climbing into the big double bed I had, melting into the mattress almost immediately. "Oh my gosh." I groaned in pleasure as I stretched out my arms, feeling as though I could've fallen asleep then and there. I eventually managed to roll myself over to plug my charger into the wall, feeling my phone vibrate as it began to charge. I buried myself underneath the covers with a yawn, pulling my phone up to my face to scroll through social media. 

I went onto Twitter and saw the fans of my channel wishing me a safe travel, and it made me smile. Although I wasn't a huge Youtuber like those that I admired, I at least had subscribers which cared about my well being. I cuddled myself into the sofa and blanket and pretended to be asleep, snapping a picture to post to my Twitter. I captioned it "THIS BED IS SO COMFY! PS Thanks for the well wishes! Just one more day of travelling to go." and posted it. I set an alarm for 5.20 in the morning before putting the phone on the bedside table. I rolled over with another yawn, finally settling in for the night.

***

My phone was practically screaming 'Man Enough' at me as morning came, and I groaned in complaint. "I. Hate. Mornings." I whined into the pillow as Joe Elliot sang his heart out. I outstretched my arm and searched for my phone without looking, eventually finding it and pulling it to me. I rolled over to face the ceiling and turned off the alarm with a content sigh as the silence came. "Peace and quiet." I smiled as I let myself melt back into the pillow and mattress for a moment, before realising I had to get myself up. 

I showered and got myself changed, shoving my pyjamas in the front pocket of my bag with my clothes from the previous day; I would wash them when I got to my new place. I paused for a moment as I thought about that, pursing my lips. 'My new place'. It was still such a weird thing to say. I mentally shook the thought out of my head with a hum, making sure the room was clean and I had all my stuff, including my phone charger from the wall. It was 5.50am by the time I was ready. I slung the bag over my shoulder and had my truck keys, room key, and phone in hand. My hair was still wringing wet, but I didn't mind that; it dried relatively quickly, especially in the summer heat.

I made my way to the reception and saw it was the same young boy who was working the previous night. I guess he was working the night shift. I walked into the reception and heard the bell ding once again, the boy turning to look up at me with the same smile as before. Minus the blush, though. "Hi." I greeted him warmly as I approached the desk once again. He nodded to me as a greeting, "did you enjoy your stay?"  
"I did, actually, yeah. Probably one of the best night's sleep I've had in a while." I giggled, earning a chuckle from him as well.   
"Well, I'm glad." He continued as he took the key from me, scanning the label to register it back into the system. He printed something off again before giving it to me with a smile. "Thank you for staying, I hope to see you again soon." His voice dropped slightly at the second part, clearly having a double meaning behind the words. I covered my mouth slightly so he couldn't see me giggling as I nodded a 'thank you', before turning to leave the reception. 

I unlocked my truck and tossed my bag to the passenger side before climbing in with a soft sigh. The sun had just began to rise, I noticed, as I put the key in the ignition and began to pull out of the motel car park. I looked off into the road with a determined look, ready for another long day of driving.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed this chapter; as promised, more stuff will happen as the story develop. These first few chapters are purely expedition. Also, I will be going on holiday as of the 29th October for three weeks, meaning I will be unable to post any new content. I hope to put out another chapter the day I leave, or the day before, so that I can at least get a good start on the story before I go on hiatus. Feel free to leave me any suggestions for the plot, or feedback on how I'm doing! Thank you so much for over 100 reads and 10 kudos in just 5 days, it really does mean a whole lot to me to get so much support.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Y/N] = Your Name  
> [Y/L/N] = Your Last Name  
> [Y/C/N] = Your Channel Name (for Youtube)  
> [Y/E/C] = Your Eye Colour  
> [Y/H/C] = Your Hair Colour

The thirteen-hour drive from Colorado to California wasn't as strenuous as I thought it would have been; probably because I had enough food and fuel to get me through the time. I had picked up breakfast from a Drive-Thru McDonalds since I hadn't eaten much the previous day, not feeling as guilty. Usually I tried to eat as healthy as possible, but at 6 in the morning there isn't a lot of options. I also had picked up some pre-bottled Starbucks from a supermarket on the outskirts of Colorado to keep me going for the day, knowing that coffee would help keep me more alive. 

I stopped in Utah for a break at around 1pm to grab some lunch and rest my body in preparation for the rest of the journey, before hitting the road once again. There was almost no traffic for the rest of the journey, much to my pleasure. It was around 6pm when I finally saw the sign I had been waiting for: Welcome to California. I was almost giddy at that point, grinning like an idiot as I entered my new home-state.

I had driven to the new place before when I had gone house-hunting, though obviously I didn't drive the full twenty-odd hours from Illinois. Once I made it past an airport which I had recognised as the one I flew into previously, I knew exactly where to go. "Home, here we come." I mumbled to myself as I turned onto the road my new house was located on. 

It had taken another hour and a half to drive from the state border to my house, meaning it was about 7.30pm by the time I finally pulled up to the house. Immediately I could sense a different atmosphere than what home was like back in Illinois. The neighbourhood I was in was much more grand and clean, giving a sense of pride within the community. The house I had in front of me was completely different to my one-bedroom flat before; so much so, it was almost nerve-wracking to be moving into a house this big. In retrospect, it was probably way too big just for me, but at the end of the day I needed a lot of space for different things. Having all my YouTube set up in my bedroom didn't work; I had a recording booth and desktop set up, as well as a bed and furniture just to live on. With this bigger place, I could have a room for each importance in my life. One for my bedroom, one for my music, and one for my gaming. I had a vision in my head, and I wanted to stick with it. 

I parked the truck and put the keys in my pocket after climbing out and locking it. I decided I would move all the furniture and equipment I had with me tomorrow when I had more energy, since all I really wanted to do was sleep for eternity. All I took with me was my keys and over-night bag. I paused next to my truck for a moment, just looking at my new place. It had a small grass area in front of the door which lead around to the back of the house, and next to the door was a garage door. I had parked my truck in front of it as opposed to inside it, simply because I wasn't sure how to work it yet. I would make that a mission for another day. A single step lead up to a small, fenced-off patio surrounding the front door. The door itself was painted brown with silver '36' numbers hooked above a peep-hole. The house itself was a simple beige colour and though it was 'boring', it was just what I wanted. Above the garage door on the left side was a window with balcony-like fencing across the bottom half of it. Above the garage door on the right side was another window, just like the other, except this one the house sat about a metre and a half back from the front of the house, the gap being filled with tiling. 

I smiled affectionately at the building, feeling oddly attached to it already despite not having even moved into it yet. I took a deep breath and pulled myself together as I approached the front door, pulling out the keys. "Here we go, [Y/N]." I said to myself as I unlocked the door with a satisfying *click*. I stepped inside, and looked around. 

Some furniture had already been installed from what I had chosen when I picked the house, as well as some furniture which came with the place. Opening the door, I was greeted with a wide, open space with almost no furniture. To my right was an elegant staircase which spiraled up towards the second floor, to my left was a wooden cupboard on which a grand circular mirror with silver decoration sat above. The walls were painted a light cream colour, and the floor was a light oak lamination. I shut the door behind me carefully, so not to slam it shut, before advancing forwards down the hallway which was presented to me.

The hallway ended with a rather large space which was the living room connected to the kitchen in an open-plan fashion. The floor was the same as in the hallway, a similar theme going with the colour scheme as well. The living room had two huge double doors which paired as windows, leading out to a rather large back garden. There was a 3x3 seat white corner sofa with black and gold cushions. It was pressed against the wall, the last seat ending as the double doors began, with it bending at the corner and the second straight facing away from the kitchen. In front was a square glass coffee table, and in front of that was a white table. A flat screen TV was nailed to the wall above that, facing the corner sofa. 

The kitchen had white cupboards with a marble-grey countertop, and was completely fitted with fridge, microwave, freezer, and oven. There was another hallway to the side of the kitchen which I soon found out lead to one room with a toilet, and one room with a washing machine and dryer. 

I decided to head upstairs to see the rest of the house, stunned with how gorgeous the place looked. It hadn't been so full when I had chosen it, since the previous owners had taken the furniture they wanted, leaving space for items to come in. Now, it felt like a proper home, and made me feel warm to just be stood inside it. 

Once I walked up the stairs, I noticed the top landing looked over the entrance hall. At the top, a door greeted me, which I discovered was an empty, black-walled room. The floor was a darker, oak-laminated wood, and matched the dark walls perfectly. There was a single window on the opposite side of the door which lit up the room with the sunset outside, giving the dark room some brightness to contrast it. I had decided that I would make this a gaming room which I could just use in my spare time, full of video games set up and perhaps even a projector to watch movies on from time to time. The room itself was pretty big, which meant there was space for a million possibilities. In all fairness, the entire house was pretty big. 

The next door led to one of the smaller rooms of the house, again being empty. The walls were white and the carpet was a light, fluffy grey. There was another door to the right which led to a room exactly the same, just mirrored. One of these rooms would be for recording my music, and the second would be for recording my letsplays. They were my main two focuses when it came to my channel, though of course I occasionally branched out and did challenges or vlogs. 

The room at the end of the hallway was a large, luxurious bathroom which I absolutely adored. The floor was white, and the top half of the walls was a royal blue paint while the lower half was white tiling. There was a large bath positioned in front of a crystalised window, as well as a vanity with mirror and stand-up shower. I beamed at the place, feeling as though I was a princess in a castle too big for her. I loved the space, but at the same time I couldn't help but wonder how lonely I would get in such a big house all by myself. I shook the doubt out of my head as I continued my self-tour of the place with the final two rooms. 

One was a simple spare bedroom which had been decorated in a light grey carpet and muted purple walls. There was a large double bed along with a wardrobe, chest of drawers, desk, and TV.

The final room was my room, which was only half full since I still needed to buy more furniture to put in. It was a large, modernised room, which almost took my breath away. The wall opposite the door wasn't in fact a wall, and was rather a complete line of portrait windows stretching from ceiling to floor. It looked out at the back garden, but since it was on the second floor, also looked out at the rest of the city. Where the house was placed was on the edge of a 'hill', meaning I could look out and see all the houses and all the bustling city life happening below. It was beautiful, and even that was an understatement. The room itself was painted with one black wall and two white, a queen-sized bed being pressed up against the one black wall. There was a small, rectangular stool at the end of the bed, which had black legs and a white, cushioned top. There was nothing else in the room, being an empty space ready for my bookcases and chest of drawers and wardrobe. 

By the time I had finished my tour of the house, it was only 8.15, yet I was still exhausted from the long journey here. I decided to dump my bag on the stool at the end of my bed, before freshening myself up to be prepared for tomorrow, when I would start moving my stuff into the house and shopping for more furniture. It would take me maybe a week to get settled, but I knew that I had scheduled enough videos to be prepared for that. 

Once I had freshened up and changed into new pyjamas, I climbed into bed with another tired yawn. I plugged my phone in to be charged, and did my nightly routine through social media. I checked my YouTube, Tumblr, Twitter, and Instagram, and answered and interacted with as many fans as I could before I began to feel sleep get the better of me. I was almost falling asleep as I responded to the last comment on my most recent video which had automatically uploaded this afternoon while I was driving. i decided to officially call it a night, putting my phone underneath my pillow so I could access it easily if needs be. I snuggled my head into my pillow with a contented sigh, slowly letting myself drift into dreamland.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The whole expedition part of the story is almost done, so thank you for sticking with me so far already. I promise more interesting stuff will happen in the next chapter, and the story will only get better from there. Strap yourselves in, because you're in for one hell of a ride.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Y/N] = Your Name  
> [Y/L/N] = Your Last Name  
> [Y/C/N] = Your Channel Name (for Youtube)  
> [Y/E/C] = Your Eye Colour  
> [Y/H/C] = Your Hair Colour

It was the first morning for about a week that I wasn't woken up by my alarm screaming at me, and it was honestly a much more pleasurable experience. Being forced to wake up made me cranky, but waking up on my own accord made me less so. I yawned and rolled over onto my back as I stretched out my arms, seeing the wall of windows illuminating the room beautifully. I found my phone from under my pillow to look at the time. It was 7am, which was the time my body usually woke up naturally. I had expected my body to be sore after the long drive, but the 10 hour sleep had managed to relax my muscles, making me feel fresh and prepared to take on anything. 

I got up and did my usual morning routine, deciding to put in a little extra effort with my makeup but still dressed comfortingly, since I wasn't sure if I would be going out to buy anything for the house. It was a Sunday, meaning most shops would either close early or be shut for the day. I put on black yoga pants and a turquoise, long-sleeved top. The top was baggy and hung off my right shoulder, showing the lilac strap of my bra underneath. It was airy and comfortable, but still suitable should I decide to go shopping.

I decided to start unpacking the boxes I had brought with me in my truck, knowing that if I at least had my YouTube equipment I could start making videos as soon as possible, even if the house wasn't entirely ready yet. I skipped down the stairs in my bare feet and grabbed the keys to my truck on the way down. Just as I had reached the bottom of the staircase, there was a knock at the door. I looked at it with a confused expression, knowing the moving van wasn't supposed to come until tomorrow. Who else could be knocking this early in the morning?

I fluffed up my hair slightly as I walked to the door before opening it slowly with curiosity. I felt my breath hitch in my throat as I saw who had knocked, and my heart felt as though it had stopped. In front of me was a man standing at about 5'10 with a nicely built frame. His hair was black while the top of it had been dyed red, and it matched his skin pretty well. He wore a black and white checkered shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows and the top two buttons undone. I had to mentally kick myself to force myself to speak, feeling as though all my motor functions had seized up and been thrown out the window. 

"Hi." I greeted the man shakily, my voice being quieter than I had intended. I gave myself another mental kick as I realised I was making a fool out of myself in front of one of my idols.  _Come on, [Y/N],_ I told myself.  _Pull yourself together. He's a normal person, just like you._

"Hey there." The voice that spoke back to me was low and husky, and I watched as the man outstretched his hand to shake mine. "My name's Mark. I'm one of your new neighbours. I saw your truck pull in last night, but I didn't want to disturb you since I figured you may have wanted the night to get settled in." He grinned at me as I shook his hand, showing his glistening white teeth. I nodded as I focused on trying not to freak out, forcing myself to speak again. "Oh, yeah, thank you. My name's [Y/N]." I managed to steady my voice this time as I dropped my hand to my side, and he moved his into his pocket. "That's a very nice name, [Y/N]." Mark complimented, making me blush slightly. "It's incredibly nice to meet you."  
"You too!" I put out, wondering how to apologise for my awkwardness. "I'm sorry if it seems like I'm acting, uh, weird?" I arched an eyebrow as I used that term, and saw him look at me equally as confused. "I know who you are. I watch your channel, like, all the time." It seemed to connect with him then, and it was almost like I could physically see the cogs turning in his mind as he put two and two together. He nodded and laughed slightly, looking at me with joy in his eyes. "Oh, right, you're a fan of my channel. Well, it's always a pleasure to meet fans." He continued to nod slightly with the same grin as before plastered on his face.   
"I'm not, like, a crazed fan who is going to tell the internet where you live, though." I quickly told him, raising my hands up slightly as if in a defensive manner. "I do YouTube myself, so I know how important privacy is." His expression changed slightly at that as he let out a curious 'huh'. His head tilted slightly to the side as he looked at me, almost as if he was scanning me. I wasn't sure what to do or how to feel about that, the shock still registering in my system that THE Markiplier was stood on my patio.

"Wait, I recognise you." He wagged a finger slightly in front of his face, and I felt my own drop in surprise. No. Freaking. Way. Markiplier recognised me? How? Had he watched one of my videos before? Was he subscribed to my channel, and I had just never noticed? A million thoughts were going through my mind as I waited for him to explain. "I remember watching one of your videos. I think it was one of your covers?" It was then that I was officially freaking out. I knew that my cover album had reached people I would have never imagined, but reaching Mark Fischbach was something I definitely thought was out of the realm of possibility. "Really?" The surprise and shock was evident in my voice as I spoke. "Wow. I never would have thought in a million years that one of my songs would reach you. Thank you for watching it! Even if you hated it or whatever-"  
"Oh God, no!" Mark interrupted me with a shake of his head. "I freaking loved it. I think you're incredibly talented. I just never had the time to watch more, and things just piled up and up and I forgot to check your channel out again. [Y/C/N], right?" I nodded with my eyes wide, unsure of what to say at that except from "wow."

I watched as Mark laughed again as the new information was clearly registering in my head. After what felt like a moment too long of awkwardness, I physically shook myself to focus my attention back on the YouTuber stood in my doorway. "So, um, Mark, would you like to come in for a little bit? I'd _love_ to have the opportunity to find out more about you. If you're not busy, of course." I tacked on the part at the end so that it didn't seem like I was being some rude, crazed fan who was obsessing over the idea of talking to him. By this point I had managed to bring myself back down to earth and felt more like my usual self, though the fangirl butterflies were still going crazy in my stomach. I saw Mark glance over his shoulder to the house on my left side, which I figured was his house. The outside looked the exact same as mine, except his second window was in line with the rest of the house and not misaligned. "I'm sure Chica will be alright on her own for a short while, so sure! I'd love to." My stomach did a flip as he accepted my offer, the fangirl in me almost rising again. I stepped to the side and pulled the door open to allow for him to stand in, realising he was still considerably taller than me despite him being the shorter of his YouTuber friends. 

I shut the door quietly behind him and outstretched my arm towards the living room as a gesture for us to walk that way. I still had my truck keys in the hand I used to gesture with, and I saw Mark glance swiftly at them as we made our way to the room. "I didn't interrupt you going anywhere, did I?" He nodded towards the keys in my hand, and I self consciously wrapped my fingers around them. "Oh, no, of course not." I shook my head with a polite smile. "I was just going to start unpacking some boxes I had brought with me, but that can wait until later today." I pointed to one of the stools in the kitchen as an offer for him to sit, which he did so with a smile of his own. "I don't have anything to drink or eat besides from water?" I offered feebly, opening a couple of the cupboards in an attempt to find some glasses. I heard him chuckle behind me, making me turn slightly to look at him. "Water is fine, [Y/N], thank you." I nodded and grabbed two glasses once I had found them, shutting the door and cleaning the glasses before filling them with cold water. I handed him one of the glasses which he accepted politely as I sat on the stool around the corner from him. 

"So, where did you move from?" Mark was the one who began the conversation, which I was grateful for since I knew I would probably stammer like a dweeb trying to think of a topic. He took a sip from his glass as he waited for my response. "Oh, my old place was in Illinois." I watched him almost spit his water back into his glass at that, his eyes widening in surprise. "You drove all the way here from freaking Illinois?" He made sure that he was hearing me correctly as he put his glass down onto the counter. I nodded with a small laugh. "I left Friday morning and slept in some motel in Colorado that night."   
"You made it all the way from Illinois to Colorado in one drive? All on your own?" Mark was clearly still stunned at that which only made me giggle again.   
"I stopped for an hour break about half way, but yeah pretty much. The whole journey was about 25 hours; it was exhausting."  
"I bet it was. Jesus Christ," Mark shook his head as he looked at his water before taking another sip. "You've gotta have some will power to travel that distance all on your own. Why California? Why not somewhere nearer to your old place?"

I shrugged at that, pursing my lips for a moment as I thought. "California is the place where dreams are made of." I explained as I looked back up at him with a small smile and a gleam in my eye. "And I'm a dreamer. I never would have assumed doing YouTube would get me this far, but it has, and I only dream of going to bigger places." Mark laughed at that, and I arched an eyebrow curiously. "Bigger than California?" He commented, earning an eyeroll from me.   
"You know what I mean. I wanna make a difference in the world, even if it's just for one or two people. I want to matter." Mark nodded as he watched my expression carefully, clearly sharing a similar dream of his own. I knew that he of all people would appreciate the thought off wanting to make a difference to people. He was one of the most caring and genuine YouTubers I had ever watched. I remember one of his milestones, where he was so emotional that he couldn't help every single one of his subscribers individually. That's how I felt sometimes; and although my following wasn't even a million strong yet, it was impossible to help every single one of them. 

"I can relate to that, for sure." His voice took me out of my day dream and forced me to look back at him. When I did, his expression was one of admiration for the aspiring YouTuber sat in front of him. It made me feel warm inside, to know that one of my idols could relate to somebody as insignificant as me.

We were both silent for a moment as we pondered our own thoughts, before Mark eventually broke it. "I'd love to show you around California sometime, if you'd let me." He smiled at me in a friendly manner, and I smiled back with a nod. "I'd like that, definitely." I encouraged.   
"Have you had breakfast yet?" He arched an eyebrow as he asked, and I shook my head. "Well, then, if you're not busy, I'd like to take you to breakfast." He stood himself up with confidence, outstretching his hand for me to take. "Again, if you'd let me."

It felt like a dream come true - to have somebody I had looked up to for so many years offer to take me to breakfast. I wondered if he was just being polite to welcome me into the neighbourhood, or if he genuinely thought there was the potential for a friendship to stem between us. Either way, I was so happy to have just met him, even if we would never speak ever again. I took his hand after a moment of thought with a giggle and a nod, letting him pull me to my feet. "Great." He grinned. "I know this incredible place about a half hour drive away that I'm sure you'd love."

I cleaned up both of our cups and went upstairs to grab my black boots with a small red heel, putting them on before heading back down the stairs. Mark had gone to check on Chica and make sure she was safe and had everything she needed like food and water, telling me he would meet me outside my house when I was done. I grabbed my keys, card, and some money, before shoving the lot into my pockets. I stepped outside and locked the door, seeing Mark approaching me from his house just as I did so. "Ready to go?" He grinned as I took the one step down off my patio to stand on the pavement, nodding with a grin to him. "Great." He guided me to his car which sat in front of his house, and got the passenger door for me as I stepped in. "Thank you." I blushed as I buckled myself in. He climbed in the opposite side, and soon we were driving. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IL EST MARKIPLIER! Finally introducing a new character. See, I told you there would be more story to come. I'm hoping to get at least another two chapters done before I go on holiday in 6 days, to make up for not being here. Thank you for everyone who has read so far and stuck by me, your support means a lot! I hope you enjoyed this chapter.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Y/N] = Your Name  
> [Y/L/N] = Your Last Name  
> [Y/C/N] = Your Channel Name (for Youtube)  
> [Y/E/C] = Your Eye Colour  
> [Y/H/C] = Your Hair Colour

I hadn't seen much of the city when I had driven in before due to it being dark but also being too tired to concentrate on much else besides from getting to my place. Now that I was in the passenger seat as opposed to the driver's seat, I could take the time to admire the scenery that was my new neighbourhood. It was a very pleasing place to look at, all of the gardens being very well kept and occasionally having some nice decorations. The houses all looked very similar, just in different colours and a couple of them had an extra garage attached to the side. There were hardly any cars in the driveways which was surprising, given that it was about 9am on a Sunday. Maybe people in California were just so busy they worked Sundays, too?   
  
"What do you think so far?" Mark's voice pulled my gaze away from the window to him, and I caught him turning back to face the road after probably watching me. "Much different compared to Illinois?"   
  
I pursed my lips as I nodded slowly, judging the state just by the small aspect that I've seen. "The houses are better than Illinois, that's for sure." Mark chuckled at that as he turned the corner, shaking his head. "What?" My voice raised an octave as I laughed with him, though I wasn't entirely sure what we were laughing at. He just shook his head and waved a hand as if to tell me to go on. "They're prettier, at least on the outside." I explained, and he let out a quiet 'ah' of realisation. "Illinois is pretty bricky and the houses are usually attached in some way or another. Here, everyone's houses are on their own, they all have different colours which gives them a bit more of a character." I shrugged, leaning my arm on the door and looking back out the window, noticing we were beginning to leave the houses behind and enter more of a city. "I don't know, I haven't really seen enough to pass judgement on it just yet."  
  
I couldn't help but continuously feel giddy during the drive to Mark's 'incredible breakfast place'. It just felt so surreal to be in a car with somebody I only ever dreamed of meeting - and the thought that we were going to have breakfast together was even more mind-boggling. One part of me thought he was just being kind since we were now neighbours, and he had no other choice but to be nice to me, but I liked to think that he wasn't someone who was nice because he felt obliged. I thought - or at least, I hoped - he was doing this because he genuinely wanted to get to know me.  
  
It was 9.40am by the time we arrived at the breakfast place, which happened to be a family-owned business called 'Cafe Rouge'. It was red on the outside with huge windows either side of the doors, and the name of the place was written in golden cursive across the whole joint. There were two tables outside, again either side of the door, both with two chairs each. The inside of the place felt and looked a lot like a coffee shop, which I thought was apt since I'm sure coffee was probably the most popular drink.   
  
It was a sit-yourself kind of place, and Mark turned to see where I preferred to be seated. "How about by the window?" I suggested, liking the idea of watching the outside world without having to leave the warmth of the restaurant. He nodded with a smile and I found a table right against the window with two seats. Menus were already sat there, and so we both sat in comfortable silence for a couple of moments as we scanned through what we wanted.   
  
A short while later, a woman about my age approached the table with a grin a notepad and pen in hand. "Good morning, everyone," she nodded to both Mark and I, and I offered my own smile while Mark gave a generous 'hello'. "My name is Sadie and I will be your waitress for this morning. Can I get you any drinks?"  
"Uh, I'll have a tea, thanks." Mark nodded with a grin, before tacking on the end, "some milk and sugar, too, please. Thank you." The waitress nodded and wrote it down on her notepad, before looking at me with an arched eyebrow. "And for you, Miss?"  
"Coffee, please."  
"Certainly. Would you like me to bring milk and sugar out with the coffee as well?"  
"Yes, please, that would be great."   
  
Sadie wrote down your drink on her notepad as well before looking back to the pair of us. "Are you ready to order your food now, or would you like me to give you a couple minutes?"  
"Uhhh," Mark let out a high-pitched, uncertain noise as he scanned the menu once again, before shaking his lips with pursed lips. "Nah, I'm good to order. What about you, [Y/N]?" I nodded my head in agreement with a smile, knowing what I wanted as well.  
  
I ended up ordering a stack of chocolate buttermilk pancakes which came with syrup and whipped cream, while Mark got the banana crepes with nutella, as well as a side order of bacon. "You know, I never understood why American's loved bacon with their pancakes." I shrugged once our drinks came, and I was putting in the milk and sugar to suit my preference. Mark scoffed almost into his tea, quickly putting the cup down to look at you. "Because bacon and sweet foods are beautiful. Mwah." He kissed his thumb and middle finger before making a motion with them, as if he was some Italian Chef. I giggled, taking a sip of my coffee as he looked back to me. "You're American, anyway!" He accused, and I quickly shook my head before putting my drink down to the side. "Not technically!" I waved a finger in objection, and Mark rolled his eyes sarcastically.   
"Oh 'technically'? What, was your great-great-great-great-grandmother half Australian or something?"   
"No," I laughed, shaking my head as he laughed with me. It was odd how easily we slipped into this casual-conversation, almost as if we'd been friends for years. "I was born in England. So, technically, I'm English."  
  
The confusion was evident on Mark's face as he squinted at you and tilted his head to the side. "You're from England? But you've got a pretty damn strong American accent?"  
I nodded, taking another sip of my coffee. This time I just held it in my hands rather than putting it down, enjoying the warmth from it. "I moved to New York with my father when I was seven, so I've spent almost 19 years here in the states." I explained with a nod of my head. "I did have an English accent, and I can still do one, but overtime it just faded."  
"Interesting," Mark nodded just as our food arrived, and we both quickly thanked the waitress.  
  
We both dug into our breakfast, and I immediately hummed a contented "yum" after my first bite. Mark looked up at me with a nutella-tash and I had to cover my mouth from bursting into laughter. I giggled quietly behind my hand as Mark tilted his head curiously again, and I shook my head before going back to my breakfast.   
  
The next half an hour while we ate was mostly quiet, though we did occasionally make a comment on something mutual; YouTube, California, our love of dogs.   
  
"Wait, wait, wait," Mark waved his hand in front of me, lowering his tone with each 'wait'. "You're telling me that you love dogs, yet you've never owned one?"  
"My dad was allergic!" I defended myself after taking another sip of my coffee and wiping my hands on my napkin. "We only ever had cats, which I also fucking love." I commented with a laugh, putting another forkful of chocolate pancakes into my mouth. "Okay, but dogs!" Mark's voice was getting increasingly higher pitched as he got more passionate on the subject, and I rolled my eyes before swallowing my food. "I know! I love dogs, okay? I could just never have my own."  Mark made a face of disbelief and I gave another eye-roll before we both went back to our plate of food.  
  
Mark finished before me, and I found recently that I was usually the last to finish at a meal. Maybe I was just a slow eater. By the time I was finished, I placed my cutlery together neatly in the middle of the plate and waited for the waitress to collect the dishes. Once she did, she nodded towards Mark and I's empty cups - "can I get you another drink?"   
"No thank you, just the bill please." Mark grinned with a straight down nod at the woman, who returned the gesture before walking away with the plates.   
  
She was back in minutes with a small black book, inside being a white sheet of paper with the cost and details on it. I reached into my back pocket for the money I had grabbed from the house before we left and began counting out my half of the bill, before I saw Mark swiftly swipe the book off the table and into his lap. "I've got this," he offered, placing enough money inside to pay for the whole bill and also the tip for the waitress. I scowled at him, reaching for the book. He quickly moved it out of my reach and I huffed. "Really, Mark? I can pay for myself."  
"I know you can, but I'd like to get this one." Mark's voice was reassuring, and it was clear he wasn't doing it to offend me. He just wanted to be genuinely nice. I sighed softly before putting my money back in my pocket, leaning against my chair with my arms folded. "Okay, but I get the bill next time."  
"Oh?" Mark raised an eyebrow at you, "there's going to be a next time?"  
  
I immediately felt my cheeks redden as I tried to backtrack on my statement. It was stupid of me to assume that because we were neighbours, these types of out-goings would become regular. I began tripping over my words with embarrassment. "Well, I-uh,- just mean,"   
"[Y/N], relax, it's fine." His voice was reassuring again, and there was a small laugh at the end of his words. "I'm only kidding. Of course there'll be a next time - I loved hanging out with you."   
My cheeks were still warm as I realised what a fool I almost - or had, really - made out of myself. "Oh, right, of course." I attempted a half-hearted laugh, and I saw Mark shake his head as we both got up to leave.  
  
The street outside was busier than when we had arrived, and I glanced at my phone to see the time was almost 11am. People had just begun coming into the city centre to begin their shopping, or perhaps some of them were on lunch break from work. Either way, there were a lot more people than there had been an hour ago. I heard a phone begin to ring from behind me, and I turned around to see Mark retrieving his from his pocket. He glanced at the screen before up at me, "do you mind if I take this? It'll only be a minute."  
"No, of course not, go for it." I waved him off, and he smiled gratefully before answering it with a "hey" as I walked to go lean on the passenger side of his car.   
  
I stood there, looking around at my surroundings as I thought about my situation. It made me smile when I really thought about it. My life felt amazing, and I felt on top of the world. I had my dream job, I was living in a beautiful house in a beautiful state, and my new friend was somebody who I loved and admired. I'd came so far.   
  
"Hey, [Y/N]." I saw Mark approaching me out of the corner of my eye and I turned to give him my full attention. "I have to go grab some stuff from a friend's house before we head back home. Is that alright with you?" I couldn't help but notice how much of a gentleman he was being, giving me the option as to what we do next. "If not, I can drop you off home and then go grab the stuff."  
I furrowed my brows and shook my head. "Don't be ridiculous, it's fine with me. Besides, it'll be nice to meet some more people in California. In case you hadn't noticed, I don't actually have any friends here." We both managed to laugh at that as we climbed into our respective seats, securing our seat belts.   
"Well, you can consider me a friend." Mark grinned as he put the key in the ignition, and you felt warm inside as your doubts from earlier was immediately squished. "Plus, I'm sure you'll love the guys you're about to meet."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back from my holiday! Thank you guys so much for all your support while I was away; almost 80 hits while I was away. That's insane! We're at over 400 reads and it does mean the world to me, so thank you. If you have any suggestions on what you'd like to happen in the story, I'd love to hear your thoughts! I want this to be as much your story as it is mine. Feedback is welcomed, too! Since I go back to College again tomorrow, and rehearsals start for our production, I'm going to try and get at least one chapter up a week. Again, thank you so much for your love and support!


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Y/N] = Your Name  
> [Y/L/N] = Your Last Name  
> [Y/C/N] = Your Channel Name (for Youtube)  
> [Y/E/C] = Your Eye Colour  
> [Y/H/C] = Your Hair Colour

It was nearing 11am by the time we were back on the road again, and I felt myself beginning to relax a little more in Mark's company. The sensation of being 'friends' with a popular YouTuber was still one that I would have to get used to, but it wasn't entirely unwelcomed; it was just something I would have to get used to. 

I found myself opening the window after about ten minutes of driving, the humidity of the mid-day air making it's way inside the vehicle. I let out a contented sigh and a smile as the fresh air hit my face, before taking in a deep breathe. Although the air itself was quite warm, the speed at which we were moving made it feel cooler than it was. 

"You want me to bump up the A/C?" Mark commented, moving one hand from the wheel to gesture towards the central control system between us. I shook my head politely with a small smile, "it's alright - I enjoy the outside air." I glanced over at him as I spoke and saw him nod before turning his full attention back on the road.

"So, I couldn't help but pick up on something back at breakfast," Mark pepped up casually, though his tone of voice didn't seem accusatory or anything. I raised my eyebrows and turned myself fully from the window to look in Mark's direction. "You mentioned that you moved to New York when you were seven - but I thought you came here from Illinois?" He seemed genuinely curious, and I shrugged slightly. "My father wanted to move back to the UK when I was about 18, but I knew my heart belonged to America." I looked down at my lap as I spoke, remembering the day I officially moved out to live on my own. "New York was too expensive for an 18-year-old-college-kid. So, I dropped out of college and headed to Illinois. I got a job, got a house, and finally started living on my own." 

"Hey! I'm also a college drop-out!" He chuckled as he turned a corner onto a road with some large buildings lining either side. They were all detached from each other with their own space, some looking like houses while some looked like office-turned houses. I grinned at Mark's comment as he slowed down in front of one of the buildings, holding out my left hand for him to high five it. He did, and I called out "team drop-out!" Before we both laughed together. 

We came to a stop outside one of the buildings and parked in between two cars; one was a mid-size silver Toyota SUV while the other was a black Vauxhall Corsa, which reminded me a little of a 'mom car'. I felt the car engine turn off and heard Mark remove the keys from the ignition. He rested a hand on his door handle before turning to face me, "you wanting to come inside and meet them? You can stay in the car if that would make you more comfortable."  
"Don't be daft," I smiled, pushing my own door open, "I'd love to meet some of your friends."

We both made our way up the drive way to the building, which seemed more like a house than most of the other buildings on the street. Mark went first, knocking on the door while I waited behind the step he stood on. Not much time passed before the door opened, though I was too busy looking around at the street to notice the person who opened it. "Hey, man!" I heard a voice that was pitched a little higher than Mark's, and I could only assume that it was whoever opened the door. I recognised the voice, though I cast that aside as coincidence - who the hell would I know in California?

"Hey, what's up, Danny?" I found myself turning around to focus my attention on the door and the people conversing there. My breath caught in my throat as I looked at the man stood in the doorway man-hugging Mark with a pat to his back, mostly seeing a mess of brown hair but recognising it instantly. I brought a hand to my mouth to stop myself from fangirling as I watched the two men separate and the taller one turn his attention to me. "Hey there," Danny smiled at me, and I felt myself instantly blush. "Who's this beautiful lovely you've brought with you, Mark?" He stepped down from the front door and took a step towards me, outstretching a hand for me to shake. I did so hesitantly, seeing my hand shaking slightly as I moved it. "Hi," I let out a small smile. "My name's [Y/N]. I am such a  _huge_ fan of yours, Dan! Ninja Sex Party is honestly one of my biggest inspirations." 

Dan chuckled slightly as he shook my hand before letting it drop slowly to my side. "Well, thank you! It's always such a pleasure to meet fans." He grinned down at me, and I found my mind wandering in awe at the sight of this man. I also mentally giggled at the height difference, knowing he was tall but never having seen him in real life to judge that - the top of my head came to about chin-level for him. "So, what, are you some crazy fangirl-stalker come to kidnap Mark and I?" He joked playfully, stepping back so he could see both Mark and I. I shook my head with a small laugh, looking down at my feet for a moment as I collected my thoughts. 

"Actually, [Y/N] here is my new next-door neighbour." Mark offered in my defense, nudging my shoulder with his own. "She's actually a YouTuber herself." I felt myself silently cursing him as he dropped that, unsure of how I felt with somebody like Dan Avidan knowing about my channel and my career. He was a musical star, and my music was garbage compared to that. If he found my stuff, and hated it, I wasn't sure what I'd do with myself. I glanced up at Dan to see his reaction, and saw that he was both surprised and impressed. "Oh, really?" His gaze turned from Mark to me, and I saw him nodding his head ever so slightly in approval. "What kind of stuff do you do?"  
"Um, a little bit of everything?" I arched an eyebrow with a feeble laugh. "Kind of a jack-of-all-trades, master of none. Challenge videos, beauty stuff, vlogs. My main content is music and let's-plays, though."

"You do music?" Danny seemed to perk up even more than before at that - if that was even possible. "I'd love to hear some of your stuff sometime if that's the case." He looked directly into my eyes when he said that and gave off a genuine smile. I felt my cheeks heat up slightly as I nodded. "Let's go inside so we can talk some more and you," he looked and gestured towards Mark, "can grab your equipment."

Danny hung back a little bit to allow Mark and I to step inside ahead of him, and I heard the door shut behind me as I followed Mark deeper into the house. The hallway was relatively short, and there was one door that went off to the right that was closed. The hallway led us to a large, open-spaced living room area that was furnished nicely with couches, a table, and a TV. On the other side of the room there were two staircases; one that led up to the first floor, and one that led down to what I imagined would be a basement. I felt myself lingering awkwardly in the doorway of the living room as Mark stopped, unsure of what to do, where to go, or what to say. Luckily, Danny broke the silence before things got too embarrassing. 

"The tripod and shit are downstairs in the Grumpspace - I don't think anybody is recording so we can all head down there." He spoke mostly towards Mark with this first part as he mentioned his equipment he was here to pick up, before talking generally talking to both of us as he stepped past me and headed towards the staircase which spiraled downwards. Mark followed shortly after and began casually talking to Danny about some videos - apparently he had lent the Grumps one of his tripods when theirs unfortunately broke - while I let myself trail behind the two men. I wrapped my arms around my middle self-consciously as I began walking down the stairs, nerves bundling up in my stomach as my thoughts ran wild. Assumingly I was about to meet even more of the biggest names in the YouTube Gaming Community, and I couldn't help the feeling of self-doubt that washed over me. I was just some random girl with a quarter of the experience they had, and a channel almost ten times smaller. I felt almost unworthy to even be within range of them, nevermind to be meeting them in person...  
  


"Mark! Hey, dude." Another familiar, male voice caught my attention, and I looked up to see Arin himself pulling Mark into a bear hug similar to Dan's outside, except with a little more force. I let my eyes skirt across the room as the two men greeted each other, and noticed two men in the far corner working hurriedly at computers, too consumed in their work to even notice our present. A smaller figure with long, black hair made her way behind Arin and I noticed her clock me. "Hey, Mark." She kept her eyes on me, and they were soft and friendly. "Who's your guest?"

"Oh! Right, yeah, sorry." He seemed embarrassed to have forgotten about me, but I hadn't taken offence to it; I had seen how consumed he was in seeing his friends. He gestured for me to come further into the room with a smile, and I complied. I made my way to beside him, and noticed Danny had joined the group as well, towering behind Mark. "This is [Y/N], a friend of mine." I noticed the change from 'next door neighbour' as he had greeted me outside to Danny, to 'friend'. I smiled slightly at the small detail, though knew he probably didn't even realise. The girl stepped forwards to take my hand and shook it firmly, half-hugging me with her other hand as she did so. "It's nice to meet you, [Y/N]!" She beamed as she stepped away, displaying a grin. "I'm Suzy."

"Yeah, I know who you are." I confessed with a small giggle, moving my hand to rub at the back of my neck nervously. "I'm a big fan of yours. Of all of you, actually." I turned my body as I gestured to all of the people in the room, knowing they each had different works and channels; and I was unashamedly a fan of all of them.

"Oh, then you _must_ know who I am." Arin cheesed at me from besides Suzy before stepping in my direction to give me my own bear hug, like he had Mark.   
"Of course - the infamous Arin Hanson!" I joked as I hugged him back. He pulled away and gave me a quizzical expression.   
" _Infamous?"_ He sounded offended, though I know he was only joking. "I thought I was rather well liked in this world."  
"Not with those pyjama pants, man." I heard Dan tease from behind me, and found myself stepping to the side slightly to allow for him to be more involved in the group talking, rather than standing outside of the crowd. He nodded to me with a polite murmur of 'thank you' while Arin continued to act offended. He gripped at his 'Hello Kitty' trousers and shook the fabric pointedly as he spoke. "I'll have you know these pants are comfy, you fuck." He cursed to Dan who was already laughing at his best friend.

The up-beat joking seemed to of brought the attention of the two men who were perched in the corner, as eventually I saw one of them walking over to us while the other pulled himself across the floor in his wheely chair. "Who's the new girl?" The shaggy-haired man on the chair commented once he was close enough, and I saw him arching an eyebrow as he looked at me. I felt my stomach knot once again once I realised how much attention had been on me in just the past fifteen minutes, not being used to so many people caring about my presence. It was an odd sensation, and I was still undecided whether I liked being noticed or not. 

Before Mark could introduce me again, I took my stand and introduced myself. "[Y/N]. And you are Ross Donovan." I smiled at him and felt a small amount of satisfaction at his confused expression as he looked at me, confirming my suspicions that he was too consumed in his work to hear me earlier. "I'm a Game Grumps fan, among other things." I explained, and saw the 'ah' expression on his face as it clicked in his mind. "And I'm Barry, though I'm assuming you know that already." The second man shook my hand with a gently smile, and I nodded politely in confirmation.

After all the introductions had taken place, I eventually found myself sat on one end of a leather couch with Danny perched on the other end. Arin and Suzy were sat on their own loveseat on an angle to where I was sat, while Mark was sat on a bean bag. Barry and Ross had excused themselves to go back to their work and were currently typing and editing away on their computers, just like when I had entered. 

The topic of conversation had quickly turned from talk of how Mark's tripod was a 'mother fucking bitch' to handle, in Arin's own words, to me and my own YouTube channel. Danny had one arm draped across the back of the sofa and was turned slightly towards me as he spoke. "So, [Y/N], how long have you been doing YouTube for?"

"About a year? A little over." I nodded, remembering the 'one year anniversary' of my channel had passed about a month before I moved to California. "So really not long at all. But it's been one of the best years of my life." I grinned, and saw him returning it with an understanding nod. 

"So, uh, [Y/N]," Arin called for my attention, and I looked over to see him with his arm around Suzy's shoulders and her resting into his side. I smiled slightly at the sight, appreciating how close they were to one another - I mean, they were married after all. "Danny-boy here told me that you've got some musical content on your channel?" 

"Yeah," I nodded, "it's kind of a 40-40 split between gaming and music, with the other 20 being random bits." 

"Do you mind if we hear some stuff?" Danny pepped up, and I hesitated for a moment.   
"Yeah, I'd love to hear something of yours." Arin agreed, and I looked around the room to also see Mark nodding his head. 

"Um, alright." I sat myself up a little and moved so I was hanging slightly off the edge of the chair. "Do you have a console or something so I can get YouTube up?" 

Danny proceeded to grab a PS4 controller from beneath the table in front of us and passed it to me, pressing a button on the remote besides him to turn on the TV. I thanked him before placing a shaky grip on the controller, scrolling along the options to find YouTube.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologise for such a long gap between this chapter and the last; this week has been a little bit hellish for me. Thank you for all the hits, bookmarks, and kudos, and for sticking with me throughout this period. I will hopefully get another chapter up before the week's end, as a way to make up for the wait between chapter 5 and chapter 6. Again, thank you all for your support!


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Y/N] = Your Name  
> [Y/L/N] = Your Last Name  
> [Y/C/N] = Your Channel Name (for Youtube)  
> [Y/E/C] = Your Eye Colour  
> [Y/H/C] = Your Hair Colour

I had searched in my YouTube channel once I got to the site as my 'audience' waited patiently for me to load up my 'Music and Covers' playlist. I began scrolling through the videos with pursed lips, unsure of what to show them. Instead of internally debating on my own, I decided to ask them. "What exactly do you want to see? Like, a cover, my original work, a duet?"   
"What about that one?" Danny pointed as I scrolled past a relatively recent video, and I felt myself pause. I chewed on the inside of my lip as I stared at the thumbnail, hesitating to show them it. The thumbnail was of me looking off to the side of the camera, a hand hovering over the back of the radio-show styled microphone with my mouth open mid-song. It had been posted two weeks before my move and had 100K views: it wasn't as good as some of my other videos did, but I had noticed a while ago that covers usually did a lot better than original songs when it came to my channel. But I was okay with that.

"It's okay if you want to show us something el-" Danny could see my hesitation and politely offered me an alternative, but I cut him off.  
"No, it's fine." I smiled before clicking on the video. "It's just an odd song, is all. Tell me if you don't understand it."

The video loaded and it began with me looking into the camera with a small smile and a thumbs up, then putting on my headphones as the music started. Video-me was stood on the right half of the video, diagonally from the camera so she was looking off to the left of the camera. The introduction was just a simple guitar introduction, and I sat back nervously in my chair as I half payed attention to the video and half payed attention to the room's reaction.

"I'm using spaces, and I'm using stardust," video-me began to sing into the microphone in front of her with an almost expressionless look. "Leaving their place and crashing stars above. This is more than a celestial eclipse, we're designed to fly but we'll guess that you'll slip." A lot of the time when I was singing my own content, my British accent would sneak through; and this was no exception.

By this point, I had heard movement from behind me, and I glanced around to see both Ross and Barry pulling up a chair to watch the YouTube video on the big screen. I bit my lower lip and pulled my legs up to sit on them, clasping my hands in front of me to twiddle my thumbs.

"Get a grip of what you want until your knuckles glow white, someday you'll see the world through sunset eyes." I watched as video-me glanced to the camera and smiled for the first time in the video, and I couldn't help but giggle slightly at it. I smiled and bit the tip of my tongue to stop myself from laughing again. "A lilac on your tongue, yeah, the city kids, the sky below, the clouds below the cosmos, yeah you're still alright." I felt myself bobbing my head along to the beat of the music as some percussion began to join in.

I recognised the background behind video-me as my old bedroom, the pale blue walls being almost barren except for a single picture frame with a taxidermy butterfly in it. "If we were on the beach we would each have a piece of stone, then throw it away into the bay, just to be alone."

"Again when we don't need friendship or we forgot it, I forget your arrogance and act like we've all got it." I tore my eyes away from the TV to take sneaky glances at the people around the room once again, still nervous of their opinion considering at least three of them were brilliant singers and musicians. Suzy was smiling and nodding along to the song, as well as Arin. I couldn't see Mark's expression since he was slightly in front of me and facing the screen, so his reaction remained unknown. I peaked out of the corner of my eye to look at Danny, who was impossible to read. He wasn't emotionless - no. His lips were upturned though weren't exactly a smile, and his eyes were fixated on the video. I looked back to the video myself as my thoughts went into self-doubt, immediately thinking I had fucked up and he hated the song.

"But through the purple haze I see I spent all my better days with you. But through the purple haze I see I spent all my better days with you." Video-me began bobbing her head along, as well as what seemed to be her whole body. I remember bouncing my knees slightly while recording, feeling the music as it began to come to a close. "But through the purple haze nothing's changed; I'm still red and you're still blue. But through the late night strolls and blaze, I'm amazed - I didn't think this through." The guitar faded out almost instantly after video-me sang 'through', before the video faded to black. 

It then began to fade back into picture, and video-me had moved so that she was in the centre of the camera and was looking directly into it with a smile. I quickly retrieved the controller from where I had rested it on my lap to stop the video before it delved into my introduction, explanation, and outro that I did after every music video. I pressed my lips into a tight line as I placed the PS4 controller onto the table in front of me, where it had came from, and turned cautiously to the rest of the group with an arched brow. I didn't want to press them for feedback on the song, wanting them to sink it in in it's entirety; it was them, after all, who had wanted to hear some of my work. I reached my hand up to my mouth, subconsciously biting the nail at my thumb - it was a bad habit I had when I was anxious, and my short-as-fuck nails reflected that anxiety.

"I really liked that!" Mark was the first to answer as he spun himself around on his bean bag to face the rest of the group. I felt myself burst into an ear-to-ear grin as I looked down at Mark, ecstatic that at least one of them had enjoyed my work.   
"Yeah, girl." I heard Arin compliment, and I glanced over at him to see him looking in my direction with a small smile and a nod of approval. "You've definitely got some raw talent there. Have you ever had lessons?"

I nodded as I adjusted my seating position to cross my legs on the chair, resting my hands in my lap. "Between about the ages of eleven and seventeen, I took examinations on Musical Theatre."   
"Oh, for real?" Arin's voice went up an octave, being either surprised or impressed. " With ARBSM?" I smiled with a nod in agreement.  
"What grade are you?" Suzy's naturally high-pitched voice chimed in, and I bit my lower lip hesitantly.   
"Grade 8 Distinction." I murmured quietly, not wanting to seem like I was boasting. I rubbed my arm up and down and subtly looked around the room at their reactions. I glanced towards Danny who had been silence throughout the entire chat, and noticed his expression was practically unchanged from when he was listening to the song. I wondered if that was his polite way of saying he didn't like it.  _If you have nothing nice to say, don't say anything at all_ I thought to myself. 

"That's, fucking-" Arin blinked at me as if he was lost for words, "that's fucking impressive, girl. And it only took you six years? Work it, girl!" He sassily snapped his fingers in a 'Z' shape, and I found myself giggling at the joking action. 

I glanced behind me to see Barry and Ross had returned to their desks, though they were half-turned towards the rest of the group which suggested they were still half-involved in the conversation. 

I watched as Suzy muttered something into Arin's ear before he nodded and placed a soft kiss onto her cheek. She stood herself up and stretched slightly before addressing the group. "Sorry to cut this gathering short, but I have some work to do." She turned to me and smiled, before heading my way. "It was such a pleasure to meet you, [Y/N]!" She beamed, and I stood myself up off the sofa as she embraced me in a hug. "Thank you! I loved meeting you too, Suzy." I smiled as we pulled away.  
"I hope to see you again soon." She wished, and I felt my smile widen even more as I realised I was being accepted into a community I never thought I would be in.

She made her way around the room to say goodbye to each of the boys, giving Arin a kiss on the cheek like he had for her, before trailing her way back up the stairs.

"Hey Arin, Mark," Ross turned around in his office chair to catch the attention of two of the men. Both of them looked up, and I saw Mark already getting up from his bean bag to stretch out his legs. "Can you come and take a look at this so far?" As they began heading over to Ross' desk, I looked over to see him with a video loaded up on some editing software. It looked like some sort of Mario game, and I assumed it was some sort of Grumpcade with Mark in it. I took this opportunity to try and talk with Danny, who had been quiet for at least the past twenty minutes. From all the videos I had watched, this was unusual for him. 

"Hey," I lowered my voice as I turned to him, turning my body to face him and pulling my legs up underneath me. "You alright? You went really quiet all of a sudden." A lightbulb seemed to flicker on once my voice hit him, and Danny blinked a couple times as he looked over at me. "No, yeah, I'm great!" He nodded with a smile. "Honestly I was... a little awestruck by your video. I was  _not_ expecting that." He admitted, and I kept quiet as he explained his thoughts despite the cartwheels going on in my stomach at his compliment. "Not that, like, I thought you were going to be bad! God, no-" he was showing more personality as he backtracked on his previous statement and I let myself smile slightly to comfort him, showing that I didn't take offence to it. "I just- was that a song about getting high?" He looked utterly confused at that, and I couldn't help but spit out a laugh at his bluntness, expecting the conversation to go a completely different way. 

I sat properly on the chair with my feet on the floor and doubled over giggling to myself, hands across my mouth so I wasn't so loud. I heard Danny laughing along with me and glanced over to see him thrown backwards against the chair with his arms across his chest as if he was trying to stop his heart from bursting out of his chest. 

"Since when was my Grumpspace converted into a zoo for hyenas?" Arin had made his way back over to where we were with his hands on his hips, and at that point I had found myself almost curled into a ball in the corner of the sofa with one hand over my mouth and the other resting on my elbow. I was still giggling slightly behind my hand, though not as bad as I had first been. I looked over at Danny with an arched eyebrow as if to explain, seeing him red in the face from laughing so much. He pressed his lips into a tight line, and I could see he was trying his hardest not to laugh out loud again. He shook his head and I could see his shoulders bouncing as he laughed internally, before he waved his hand dismissively and took in a deep breath. I eventually started coughing from laughing too much before I took a couple of my own deep breaths to calm myself down. "Dude, you're just like fucking Arin with that laugh," Danny pointed out with a chuckle, and I looked up at the younger Grump who was still looming ominously over us. He looked playfully offended at that comparison and looked at Danny with his hand over his heart and his mouth open in a wide 'o' shape. I shook my head at him with a laugh before he relaxed his face and sat on the arm of the opposite sofa. 

"But for real, though, what were you guys laughing about?" He asked, genuinely curious about our previous laughing fit. I glanced over at Danny who was smiling over at me, and I quickly skirted my eyes away, back towards Arin, so I wouldn't start blushing. "Danny just figured out what my song was about."   
"I fucking knew it!" Danny sat up straight with a loud exclamation and pointed at me with an incredulous grin on his face. "It was about fucking weed!" 

I started giggling again and fell back into the cushions, looking over at him to see him watching me with the grin still plastered across his face. We sat like that for a couple seconds, just staring at each other as I realised how natural and comfortable I felt in this place in just a short space of time. I heard Arin clearing his throat pointedly, and I physically shook myself to regain focus as I glanced back at Arin who had a suggestive look pointing towards Dan. "Shove off, man." Danny rolled his eyes and pushed up off the sofa to head over where Mark still was by the desks. I arched an eyebrow to Arin, somewhat concerned, but he shook his head slightly with a smile. "Don't worry about him, he's fine." He reached over to pat my knee before standing himself up. 

Another half hour passed with casual conversation between myself, Mark, and the four Grumps in the room, until I saw a shadow looming over me. I looked up to see Mark smiling down at me, and I returned the smile. "You ready to get home? I've got some videos to record, and I'm sure Chica is missing me."  
"Sure." I nodded, shifting myself to the edge of my chair which I hadn't moved from the entire visit. I stretched out my arms above me and my legs in front before standing myself up and dusting myself down of any wrinkles in my clothes. 

"Hey, why don't we all go out for dinner later tonight?" Danny peeped up as he stood as well, shoving his hands into the pockets of his jeans. "Arin, Suzy, myself, [Y/N], Mark, Barry, Ross. You can even invite Holly," Danny addressed Ross who seemed to be in another world. "Australia!" He picked up one of the cushions and launched it across the room, hitting Ross in the back of the head. "What?" He shouted in return, turning around in his spinny chair to face the attacker.   
"Dinner. Tonight. Invite Holly?"  
"Oh, yeah, of course. I'll text her, I'm sure she'll be up for that."

"So, it's settled then." I heard Arin's booming voice before I felt his arm draping around my shoulders, pulling me tightly into his chest. "Night out to get to know our new favourite girl." I giggled and shook my head, feeling warm inside at being accepted into this new family. 

Mark and I both said goodbye to Arin, then Barry and Ross. "Here, let me walk you both out." Danny offered just as I was about to say goodbye to him, and I saw him smile towards me before walking up the stairs. Mark made sure he had gathered the tripod and any other equipment he was retrieving before following behind me.

Dan opened the door for us before stepping to the side and letting us out first. I stood to the side slightly once I was outside, allowing Mark to walk past me and get to his car to start it up. I turned to look up at Danny who had gratefully stood down off from the threshold of the door so he wasn't looking completely down at me. He leaned his shoulder against the wall with a smile, and I couldn't help but press my lips into a tight line to stop myself from cheesing. 

"It was incredibly nice to meet you, [Y/N]." He nodded towards me. "I can't wait to get to know you more tonight and beyond, hopefully." He turned almost bashful at that point as I watched him slip his hand into his back pocket, standing up straight. "Don't make fun of me for this." He disclaimed before pulling out a small white piece of paper before handing it to me. I looked at it and saw it was his phone number, and I felt my jaw drop. "Is  _the_ Danny Sexbang giving me his phone number?" I teased, using his Ninja Sex Party persona. I saw him roll his eyes as a blush sneaked onto his cheeks, and he looked away from me. "Hush," he chuckled nervously. "Go get in Mark's car before I take that piece of paper back." He threatened playfully, and I giggled before turning away and heading towards the car.

I opened up the door and looked back up to the house to see Danny waving a subtle salute in Mark and I's direction, and I gave off a small wave before climbing into the car. 

I let out a rather loud sigh as I melted back into the car seat, feeling a smile plastering my face as I closed my eyes. "You alright?" I heard Mark ask with a small chuckle, and I nodded as I bit my lower lip. "Fantastic."

 


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Y/N] = Your Name  
> [Y/L/N] = Your Last Name  
> [Y/C/N] = Your Channel Name (for Youtube)  
> [Y/E/C] = Your Eye Colour  
> [Y/H/C] = Your Hair Colour

It was almost 12.30 by the time Mark had pulled up outside of his house, cutting out the engine. He turned to me and leaned his hand on the back of my chair before addressing me. "So, I've got a couple of videos to record like I said," he pointed out with a glance to his watch. "I don't mind knocking for you when it's time to go meet the Grumps. I can drive us there, if you'd like."  
"Thank you, but don't cut your work short for me." I smiled as I unbuckled myself from the seat. "I've got Danny's number, so I'm sure he'll contact me whenever. I look forward to seeing you there, though."

We both climbed out of the car and I heard the sound which meant Mark had locked it. We exchanged phone numbers, and I couldn't help but feel giddy at that as I received yet another phone number that I never would have believed I would get. He guided me to my front door, and I smiled politely as he did so. "It was honestly  _so_ incredible meeting you, Mark." I beamed up at him as I hesitated at the foot of my door. "Never in a million years would I have thought I would have the honours of meeting not only you, but also the Grumps. So thank you, for that."  
"Oh, please, [Y/N]." He waved a hand dismissively with a small chuckle. "You seem like an amazing girl and it was my pleasure to take you out for the morning. You have my number," he nodded pointedly to my pocket where my phone was, "call me if you need anything." And with that, he left me to enter my house while he returned to his own place. Once I had shut the door behind me I sucked in a deep breath, before huffing it out loudly as I leaned my back against the door. "Ho-" I felt myself begin to slide down the door as I spaced out, "-ly" my arse landed flat on the floor, and I looked straight ahead of me, "fuck." 

I pulled my legs tightly up to my chest and shoved my face into my knees before screaming into it, the sound being muffled against the fabric of my yoga pants. I slapped my hands on the floor either side of me excitedly as I threw my head back against the door with a grin, giggling to myself as I let myself fangirl. "Holy fuck, holy crap!" I cursed over and over again before gripping either side of my head with my hands as if to physically shake myself into realisation of what my life was slowly becoming. I let my head flop back against the front door again as my hands slid down to ball up and rest on my chest. I could feel the ear-to-ear grin plastered on my face as I giggled quietly to myself, biting my lower lip before taking another deep breath to steady myself. 

Once I was sure I had gotten most of the fangirling out of my system, I lifted myself up slightly to grab my phone and the piece of paper Danny had given me out of my back pocket before sitting back down again. I looked at the black ink messily scrawled across the paper, still in disbelief, before pressing the numbers into my phone and saving the contact as 'Danny' with a small emoji-star next to it as reference to the Star of David on his Sexbang costume. I took a deep breath before opening my messages and beginning to type.

_Hey, Danny. It's [Y/N]. Mark just dropped me off home safe and sound. I can't wait until tonight - getting to know everybody will be great._

I pressed 'send' and instantly felt my heart skip a beat, wondering if my text was too boring. I shook the thought out of my head and physically picked myself up off the floor, knowing I had at least a couple hours to kill until I would be meeting up with the Grumps and Mark. That would give me more than enough time to unpack the stuff from my truck and at least get my basic set up done before the moving van came tomorrow, as well as making myself look somewhat decent to impress my new found friends.

I put my phone back in my pocket and grabbed the keys to my truck from the cupboard next to the door before exiting outside. I left the front door unlocked and open so that I could easily walk in and out with the boxes. I unlocked the truck and shoved the keys in my pocket where my phone was, opening up the tailgate to retrieve the first load of stuff. I leaned my knee on the bed of the truck to stretch and reach for the first box, being too short to grab it standing firmly on the ground. My fingers skimmed the edges of the box, and I kept skimming it over and over so that it turned and shifted to become within my grasp. I took either side of the box and brought it close to the end of the bed before standing up properly and lifting it away. I groan slightly, forgetting how heavy the first box of books were, adjusting my grip as I walked back into the house so it wouldn't strain my fingers as much. 

Once I placed the box at the foot of the spiral staircase, I felt a vibration against my butt which promptly made me jump slightly. "Holy crap," I huffed to myself once I realised it was just my phone, reaching to grab it. I saw that I had a text from Danny, and smiled as I opened it while walking back outside to my truck. 

_Hey, [Y/N]! Glad you texted. I thought you might have blown me off, haha. Anyway, I'm glad Mark brought you home safely; wouldn't be very good having a dinner in your honour if you were dead, right?  
_ _What are you up to? Arin and I are just on a break right now from recording a bunch of episodes. I think he's sending Ross to go and get some lunch. I'm also realising that you probably don't care and I'm just blabbering on about useless things. And I'm still going. Whatever, I'll send it anyway._

I giggled to myself as I read the text, mentally agreeing on the fact of him blabbering on useless things. But I didn't mind - I wanted to get to know him more, and if blabbering was part of his personality then so be it. I leaned forwards and rested my thighs against the back of my car as I quickly typed my reply, not wanting to get too sidetracked.

_It could be a dinner mourning me instead of honouring me! A dinner is still a dinner.  
And I'm currently moving some stuff that I brought with me from my old place into my new one. I've got a moving van coming tomorrow with even more stuff. Oh, and don't worry about your blabbering! I blabber all the time, as well. We are only human :)_

I attempted to make my reply a little more lengthy like his has been, even if most of it on either part was just nonsense. I slipped my phone back into my pocket before carrying on with the task at hand, deciding I would get all of my stuff moved to at least the bottom of the stairs before replying to Danny - should he reply before then, of course.

I had managed to get my entire truck emptied and into the opening of my house; two boxes of books, a suitcase of clothes, and my main desk setup. I balanced the box with my tech equipment on the bottom step before ensuring my truck was safely locked before shutting the front door behind me. I leaned back against the inside of the door as I took out my phone, seeing I had two unread texts from Danny. I tucked a strand of loose hair behind my ear as I opened the first one up.

_Don't strain yourself too much! Wouldn't want you injuring yourself so early into your move. And hey, we can be blabber buddies together! You listen to my blabber, I listen to your blabber. It's a win-win situation._

I smiled to myself as I read the text, noticing his genuine concern for my health when it came to moving my stuff. I clicked onto the next text.

_I think we're going to a sushi restaurant tonight, by the way. I hope you like sushi? If not, I can tell Arin we can find somewhere else. I think Matt and Ryan might be joining us, as well, so long as you don't mind.  
_ _About to go back into recording, so I'll reply when I'm done!_

I nodded to myself at the mention of sushi, it being one of my favourite cuisines. To be honest, there wasn't much food that I would say no to. Unless it was straight up prawns - yuck. I went to type my reply before I continued organising all my stuff, not wanting to keep him waiting even though I knew he was in a recording session.

_Sushi sounds great! Matt and Ryan are welcome to come if they'd like - I'd love to get to know them as well. I can't wait until tonight._

I put my phone back into my pocket and continued on my mission, taking my stuff up to the main bedroom box by box. I had shoved the two boxes full of books into one corner of the room while putting the suitcases next to the wall opposite the bed, opening them for easy access. I set up all my tech equipment into the room where I would film my gaming videos, figuring it was easier to have it set up even if I didn't have anything else up. This way I could still check everything was running okay in terms of my videos uploading right, even if it was just for a day or so before I had everything else. 

I hooked up my self-built computer and set it up on the floor where I planned to put my desk once I got it. The main frame was positioned behind the three-monitor set up while the keyboard and mouse were in front. I had a spare mousepad also in the box which I used, knowing it wouldn't work well otherwise on the carpeted floor. I attached a small webcam I used for skype and the like, hooking it onto the middle of the centre monitor. Once I was sure everything was hooked up and nothing was missing, I booted it up to check it was still working after the long journey. 

I crossed my legs on the carpeted floor as I logged into desktop, seeing everying was running as usual for the most part. I glanced down at the time and saw it was almost 2pm, and I wondered when my new friends and I would be meeting. I pulled my phone out of my pocket once again and saw that there was no reply from Danny yet, and I figured he was still recording. I decided to send him another casual text despite the nagging feeling in the back of my head that was telling me not to. 

_Hey, I know you're recording so there's no bother on a quick reply - but do you know what time we're meeting at tonight? And what sushi place we're going to? Wouldn't want to be fashionably late because I turned up to the wrong place. Thanks! :)_

I hit send and placed my phone next to my make-shift set up before turning my attention back to the tech in front of me. I went onto my YouTube account first, since that was my main concern when I took breaks like this. I scanned through my videos to make sure they had all been posted at the correct times, with the necessary thumbnails, titles, and descriptions. Everything seemed to be in order and so I looked through my scheduled videos to make sure the next three days' worth of videos were also on track to be posted. I only posted one video a day, so I didn't have to worry as much as other YouTuber's when it came to something messing up. I had planned a weeks worth of videos in advance so that I could make the journey here to LA, having videos scheduled until the day after the moving van would arrive. I hoped that by then I would have at least a basic set up, and I would be able to make some videos while settling in. 

After about half an hour I found myself browsing through my social media, namely Tumblr by the time I heard the vibration of my phone. I picked it up to see Danny had replied, and I opened up the text. 

_Sorry for the wait! Arin was having a particularly rough time with this fangame :P  
_ _I just spoke to the guys and they said meet at 6? The address is 101 N Brand Blvd._

I searched up the address Danny had given me once I had read the text to see what it was like; whether it was formal or casual. The dress code said formal, and I noticed it had very high ratings on critic reviews. I nodded, liking the look of it, before responding to his text.

_Sounds good! 6pm at Sushi Sasabune. See you there._

If we were meeting at 6pm, that meant I had three and a half hours to get ready which gave half an hour leeway for driving. The restaurant was almost right next to where the Grumpspace was, meaning it was only about a twenty minute drive from my house, though it was better to leave some extra time just in case rather than being late. 

I knew that I wanted to dress up nicely to impress the group, even though a part of me knew that there was probably no point, but it was a formal restaurant anyway. I decided to open up Skype on my computer and searched for a person who I knew would help me look fabulous for the night, even if they were blocked by a screen. 

I grinned when I saw the name of the person I wanted, and was even happier when there was a little green icon next to their name which indicated they were online. I made sure my camera and microphone were working before video calling the person, waiting patiently for them to answer. 

Once the Skype-dialing sound disappeared, it was instantly taken over by a high-pitched squeal on the other side of the computer. I grinned at my screen, seeing a guy with short hair the same colour as my own sat in front of a white wall. "Hey, [Y/N]!" He excitedly greeted me, and I waved into the camera as I bit my lower lip. "Hey, bro. Listen - I need your help."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Merry-start-of-the-christmas-holidays! As those of you who follow my instagram (cough @sxpticsins) know, on the 20th December I will be travelling to Scotland to spend the holidays with my dad. That means I may not be able to post many chapters while I'm away, however I will try to get at least one or two done before college starts at the beginning of January. I hope you're enjoying the story so far; I have plenty of plot lines in my head right now that I can't wait to delve into. Thank you for all the kudos, I really do appreciate it. If you have any questions, comments, concerns, or ideas, then feel free to comment below or contact me through my instagram!


	9. Chapter 9

It had been almost five years since I had seen my brother in person, but only about a week since we had last skyped. Pretty much since I had moved to Illinois 8 years ago, we had made it our promise to each other to try and talk once a month at the very least, preferably more. Sometimes we even skyped a couple times a week.

He had been 20 when our father decided to go back to England, and he had moved with him due to more promising job opportunities in his respective field. He was an aspiring fashion designer, and had found many new companies in the UK opening up and looking for designers to work for them. I think he was currently designing for a company called Atmosphere - one of the biggest clothing companies in the country. That was one of the reasons I trusted him in helping me choose an outfit for the night; that, and I knew that he would want his little sister to look his best.

"What can I do for my big-time sister?" He giggled, folding his hands over and resting his chin on them. I shook my head at him, dismissing the joking comment that he had been making ever since I decided my move to LA. He teased me for being a 'star' or a 'diva', but I just let him have his fun. "Well, I'm going out with some new friends tonight-" I had begun, but was cut short in my explanation by a dramatic gasp coming from the other side of the screen. "My little sis? Friends? You really are making it big-time."  
"Shut up!" I huffed in exasperation, though couldn't help but let show a small smile as I watched him get giggly over his teasing. He waved his hand dismissively before leaning back against the wall, gesturing for me to continue.

"Like I said, I'm going out with some new friends tonight, and we're going to this pretty fancy restaurant." I watched as he pursed his lips and nodded as I continued. "And I kind of wanted to make an impression."  
"An impression?" He arched an eyebrow accusingly, and I saw his eyes subtly glance up and down at his screen and, I assumed by association, me. "Do one of these, 'friends'," he raised his hands and made quotation motions as he said the word 'friends', "happen to be a tall, strapping, young man?" I pretended to make my own dramatic gasp, even placing my hand across my chest as I looked at him in horror. "Are you accusing me of wanting to dress nicely just for some man? Well, I never!" I joked before glancing to the side, away from my screen, as I bit my lower lip to stifle a giggle.

"I knew it!" I heard a bubbly exclamation, and I turned to see my brother closer to the camera than before. "What's his name? How old is he? Does he dress nicely? Does he-" he went to fire off another question before he snapped his fingers suddenly before pointing directly to me through the screen. "Have you guys fucked, yet?"  
"What the fuck?" My shock just came tumbling out of my mouth as I raised my hands up in the air in surrender and leaned back. "No! Are you crazy? I only met the guy today. I'm not you - I don't fuck on the first date." I explained as he leaned back in his seat with a small smirk and a wink, not even denying the accusation I had made.

"Alright, I'm sorry." He caved in with a soft smile, and I saw the genuine affection of a brother looking upon his younger sister in that moment. "Joking aside - what's the lucky guys name?"  
"It's Danny." I smiled, finding myself biting my lip subconsciously just thinking about him. I hadn't even noticed I had started staring off into space until I heard a voice from the other side of the screen giggling at something. I blinked as I looked back to him with an arched eyebrow, seeing him watching me while biting the tips of both thumbs. "What?"  
"You're smitten."  
"Am not!"  
"Oh, you so are, [Y/N]." He grinned with a shake of his head. "You started day dreaming just at the mention of his name." It was my turn to shake my head - and that suggestion. "It's not that I'm smitten," I debated as I let my tongue skirt across the front of my top teeth as I thought. "He's just interesting. I've known him for years, but he's never known me."  
"What, are you some kind of stalker?" He joked, and I shot him a threatening glare. He pressed his lips into a tight line and held his hands up defensively before gesturing for me to continue.

"He's in a band. Several bands, actually. I've admired his music for so long."  
"Wait, wait, wait." My brother held out a hand to stop me, and I saw he was trying to think of something as he tilted his head to the side and intensely stared at something off camera. "Danny.. Is that the guy from, from that band..." he clicked his fingers several times as he tried to think of what I assumed was the bands name. He scrunched his eyes up tightly and groaned as he tried to think, resting his head against the wall behind him. "Skyhill!" He shouted out of nowhere, pointing a finger at me. I nodded with a wide grin, and saw his eyes widen in disbelief. "For real? The lead singer of Skyhill? Jeeze, [Y/N], you were obsessed with them. That band's still going?"  
"No, it disbanded a while ago. He made a new band called Ninja Sex Party, and he's also in one called Starbomb."

"But he's just- really fucking interesting, you know?" I glanced up at him and saw him nodding. "You remember that one song I wrote maybe, ten years ago? About George?"  
"Everything Purple?" He replied, and I nodded and pointed at him, gesturing that was the right song.  
"Well, Danny knew almost instantly what it was about, and I don't think anyone else had half a clue of what it was about."

"Wow, that's a first." He chuckled with another nod. I remember when I had first written the song when I was 16, and I played it for my brother; I had to explain the context and what it meant. Rarely anyone who had ever heard it understood it without an explanation, and I knew that from a long-history of watching Game Grumps and Danny's work that he had a history of drugs, namely weed, which was what the song was dominantly about.

"Okay, so, you're wanting to impress this guy." My brother brought me back to the main reason I had called him, and he paused to allow me to explain the rest.  
"I want your help on what to wear. Ninety percent of my clothes are with the moving van, and that's not arriving until tomorrow."  
"Well, show me what we've got to work with."

I had left skype on while I disappeared into my bedroom to grab the two suitcases I had brought to California. We had spent around half an hour deciphering through all of my clothes I had brought with me and, even between the two of us, finding an outfit for the night had proved difficult due to most of my clothes being casual wear or clothes for comfort.

"Hey, hey, wait!" I was just folding up some yoga pants when my brother had halted me, and I wondered if he had seen something I hadn't. "What's that there? Next to that red shirt?"  
"This?" I placed my hand on top of some black fabric and watched as he nodded. I picked up the folded material and shook it out to take a look at it, seeing it was something I hadn't really worn in a while. "It's this black dress I bought a while ago." I explained as I stood up and held it against my front, showing him. "It's more like a long shirt, though, with how short it is."  
"It's hot!"  
"It's short!" I retorted with a scowl, and he dismissed my comment easily.  
"Try it on. And that black and pink push up bra."

I did as he commanded, somewhat reluctantly, changing out from my turquoise-and-lilac top ensemble into the new bra and shirt-dress. I didn't bother moving out of frame, knowing that my brother and I were both comfortable with pretty much anything when in front of each other. I kicked off my yoga pants to expose my bare legs before pulling the dress down as far as it would go - which wasn't very far. I groaned as I smoothed down the material at my front, turning to face the camera so he could see.  
"Dude, you look fucking haaaawt!" He dragged out the word 'hot' with a sassy tone, and I found myself rolling my eyes.  
"I look like a slut."  
"[Y/N], stop." He scolded me, and I saw the small disappointment in his eyes as he looked at me. "Embrace the body you've got. Please?"

I pursed my lips and kept quiet as I just looked at myself in the small corner of the monitor that showed my own camera. I turned from side to side, almost emotionless, as I took in the outfit. The dress was entirely black and had only one shoulder, the material continuing past the armpit to wrap around my upper arm. It was tight fitting up until the waist, where it flared out into a skater-skirt style, ending barely past my arse. I nose-laughed as I realised my brother had been right about wearing the pink and black bra - even though the dress covered that whole area, it definitely made them look bigger.

"So?" I realised I had been taking my time while looking at the outfit, and my brother had been patiently waiting the entire time to allow for me to make my own decision. I took one last glance at myself in the camera preview before nodding, looking back at him. "You're right, it does look amazing. But I'm wearing something on my legs!" I added on sternly once I saw him smirking at my defeat. He waved his hands forwards as if to tell me to 'go ahead', and I couldn't help but let a small laugh out.  
I had retreated back into my suitcase to find some tights or something, all the while still talking to my brother about different things non-related to tonight. How his work was going, how my channel was going, how different California was like...

"How's dad?" I asked as I sat down in front of the camera to shimmy some fabric past my feet and onto my legs. I smoothed them down around my knees before laying them straight, leaning back on my hands as I looked to my brother. He seemed to be distracted by something, again beyond the sight of the camera, so I waited for him to look back to me. "Oh, dad?" I nodded. "He's good. Brilliant, in fact. Him and Granda had a falling out a couple weeks ago, but I think everything is okay now."  
"He needs to just be careful about Granda." I commented, and saw my brother nod slightly in agreement. "He's getting old, and he's not exactly the healthiest old age pensioner. Dad doesn't want to let him go when they're angry at each other."  
"That's what I said, and dad knows that. He told me he doesn't want to be mad at him, so he's letting it go."  
"Okay, that's good. I think I'll probably call dad myself in a couple days once I've completely settled in."

I had showed my brother the tights I had put on for his opinion, which were tan and black vertical stripes. He had made a comment of agreement, and so I decided to change into some sweatpants and a Jacksfilms 'Bad Day?' jumper, so that I didn't get makeup on my outfit.

For over an hour my brother and I had talked while I was doing my makeup, and it made me nostalgic over the times when we used to live together. Although we talked frequently, it had been years since we had sat down and talked for hours upon hours. We had always been close, even as kids, and it was heartwrenching when we had to depart ways those few years ago.

I looked at the small, circular mirror I had balanced against the wall in front of me once I had finished my makeup, and smiled at my appearance. I was a girlie girl, so I frequently wore makeup and somewhat knew what to do when it came to my own face. I had a shimmery-purple smokey eye going on with both inner and outer eyeliner wing, false lashes, contour, lipstick; the whole shabang. I was half expecting another comment from my brother about how I was trying to 'impress' Danny, but truth be told this was how I almost always looked.  
"Hey, [Y/N]," my brother called for me, and I looked away from my reflection with a pop of my lips and a questioning expression. "What time are you meeting your new friends?"  
"I'm leaving about 5.30 my time. It's 5.10 now."  
"You better get going then; leaving enough time to make sure you've got everything and are good to go."

I nodded with a small smile to my brother, before naturally breaking out into a wide grin just as he did. "I miss you." I sung out, trying not to drop how much. I could see the solemn expression in his eyes as he nodded, looking at me affectionately. "Me too, sis. But I'll see you soon." He promised. "Gotta come see that new boyfriend of yours, eh?" He winked, not letting me go without one last brotherly dig. I rolled my eyes and laughed at him, hearing his own laugh like music to my ears. Once we both stopped laughing, we just looked at each other.

"See you later, [Y/N]. Knock 'em dead."

And with that, he was gone.

I physically shook myself to get my body to move, shutting down my computer safely and putting all my makeup away into my suitcases. I slipped on my burgundy Doc Martens, to add a little colour to my outfit, taking one last glance at my reflection in the mirror before grabbing anything else I needed; bag, car keys, purse, perfume. Those sorts.

It was a little after 5.30 by the time I had all my stuff, and I found myself hurriedly skipping down the stairs to get to my car. I glanced over at my neighbour's driveway, only to see it empty. I figured Mark had already left to meet the Grumps, and I silently cursed myself at the thought I may be the last to arrive. I sighed, knowing I'd just have to deal with it as I reversed onto the road.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As some of you know I've been in Scotland with minimal internet, so I haven't been able to post as often as I would have liked. But it's half an hour away from 2017, at least for me right now it is, so Happy New Year! I head home on a 12 hour coach on the 3rd so I'll be able to write a chapter or two then for when I get home. Stay tuned!


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologise that this chapter wasn't up sooner; I don't really have any excuses this time except just my entire being and who I am as a person.

It wasn't long until I had arrived at the Sushi place we had scheduled to meet at. In fact, I had arrived slightly earlier than I expected due to their miraculously being minimal traffic on the way. The carpark was only half full, however there were three distinguishable cars lined next to each other; Mark's black Jeep Compass, accompanied by the silver Toyota SUV and black Vauxhall Corsa that had been outside the Grumpspace. I parked my behemoth of a truck in the open space besides the Corsa, before cutting out the engine.

In front of the cars was already a small gathering of people, and from one hairstyle in particular, I could guess that they were the people I was looking for.

I jumped out from the truck and shut the door behind me, making sure to lock it and pocket the keys before heading to the group. Somebody must have noticed me, since they were turning to greet me before I had even opened my mouth.

"Hey, [Y/N]. Danny smiled down at me, stepping to the side to integrate me into the circle. He hesitantly took me in a one-armed hug, and I leaned into him with a smile before pulling away to greet the rest of the group. Arin, Suzy, Mark, Ross, Holly, - whom I had not met, yet - and Barry, were all there. Barry seemed to be in slight awe at the vehicle I had just climbed out of, and I so I arched an eyebrow once he looked my way.

"Sorry," he shook his head quickly as he apologised. "I just, never would have expected somebody as small as you to be driving something as big as an oh-five pick up."

"Hey!" I scolded, furrowing my brows. "I'm not that small. I can drive that truck just as well as anybody else can.

"Uh-oh, looks like somebody has short-man-syndrome." Arin laughed at my defensive nature over my height, and I felt myself look away with a blush. To be fair, it wasn't like being the shortest one was a new thing to me.

Arin looked around in the car park for a moment, before removing his arm from Suzy's shoulders to look at his watch. "Looks like Matt and Ryan are the last ones here." He chuckled and, as if on cue, a car pulled into the lot. Two guys were in the front of a small, dark-blue car that I didn't know of. I recognised them as the two men Arin had previously mentioned, having been a fan of theirs since they first started assisting Mark over a year ago. Now that I came to think of it, I really just was a huge fucking fangirling-nerd when it came to these YouTubers.

They both climbed out of the car jokingly bickering about something that happened with a stop light supposedly five miles ago, and I couldn't help but giggle to myself as I watched them interact. "Hey, man." Matt instantly broke out of the squabble once they approached the group, initially greeting Arin with a half hug-half pat on the back. He and Ryan continued around the circle with their greetings, before they awkwardly reached me. It was clear they were trying to be polite as they smiled at me, but at the same time it was evident they had no clue who I was. "Sorry, introductions, of course." I awkwardly laughed, reaching my hand out to Matt - the closest to me. "My name's [Y/N]. I'm Mark's next door neighbour."   
"And a new friend." Arin wrapped his arm over my shoulder protectively, dismissing the 'neighbour' comment and purposefully calling me his friend. I smiled at that, and nodded in thanks to him as he returned to his wife.   
"Pleasure to meet you, [Y/N]. I'm Matt."  
"And I'm Ryan." They both greeted me politely with a smile, and I decided to hold back on telling them that 'I already knew who they were' since I was 'such a big fan'. That whole spiel started getting boring at the Grumpspace hours ago.

"Now that everyone's here, can we go eat?" Ross piped up into the conversation for the first time, and I saw Arin roll his eyes in mock-frustration.   
"Right, guys, let's hurry up so crankyross here can get his food." He teased, waving his hand in the direction of the restaurant in gesture for everybody to head that way.  
The place inside was rather modern looking, everything being sleek and clean with a rather blocky-feel to it all. It didn't appear posh, however. Just the right amount of upper-class.

Since there was so many of us - 10 of us, in fact - we got one of the long, rectangular tables at the back which had one side facing out of the window. It was quiet in this area, which was pretty pleasant - it meant we could just talk among ourselves, as friends, without risk of disturbing anybody else.

On the side with their backs against the window sat Ryan, then Matt, Mark, Suzy, and Arin, while the side facing the window sat Barry opposite Ryan, then Holly, Ross, Dan, and lastly myself.

Dan swiftly got himself in front of me when we had reached the table, pulling my chair out slightly for me to sit. I smiled at the gesture as he slinked himself in the seat beside me, shrugging out of his leather jacket to reveal a plain black shirt hanging loosely on his chest, a necklace resting on top.

 

We first all ordered drinks; all the boys first got a beer, while Holly got a glass of water and Suzy and I got some Green Tea. For food, I ordered Hamachi Sashimi for an appetizer and Tuna Nigiri for my main. 

I managed to ease myself into the conversation rather nicely considering I was the 'outsider' of the group. It helped a lot that Danny and Suzy often tried to throw the conversation in my direction to make me feel included, which I appreciated greatly. 

Throughout most of the meal, Mark had been involved in his own conversations with Matt and Ryan, and I couldn't help but smile at that - I knew how close they had once been as friends through their social media, and what a rocky time they'd had the past few months. So seeing them interacting so much and enjoying themselves showed how healed their relationship was becoming. 

"So, [Y/N]." Arin placed his elbows on the table and folded his hands over each other before resting his chin on them. He looked at me with a sly smile, and I felt a nervous knot build in my stomach as I focused my attention on him. "I, as well as the other Grumps," he nodded to the rest of the table, whom had gone silent at that point as they listened intently to Arin. "Have been speaking a lot since your introduction this morning."

I nodded very slowly, not entirely sure where this conversation was going. "Oh-kay," I nodded as I squinted one eye at him. "About what?"  
"About you." He said very bluntly, and I felt myself physically back away from him in my chair in surprise. He didn't seem to flinch at all, however, and continued to stare at me rather intently. 

"We've been discussing about your channel," he nodded to the side as he said 'your channel', "about your talent, about your... uniqueness." He let a smile sneak up at that, and I saw his eyes dart away from mine - but only for a split second. "And how we at the Grumpspace may have room for another member, or so." He tacked on the 'or so' at the very last minute, it seemed, and I felt my brows furrow in confusion. I had two in two in my head, but I was yet to add them together. 

"Okay," I nodded again, a little more firmly this time. "I'm not entirely sure what you're getting at here."

Arin chuckled slightly and rested his hands against the table, looking down as he shook his head. "What I'm getting at, is," he looked back at me, all traces of seriousness gone. Instead, it was replaced with a genuine smile from a genuine friend. "I'd-we'd-like to offer you the opportunity to be a Grump."

Almost all colour drained from my face as he said that, and I felt the shock set in instantly. My mouth felt dry as I tried to speak, no words coming out. For the first time in my life I had been rendered completely  _speechless._

"You'd help Ross, Barry, Matt, and Ryan with all the editing, as well as feature in any videos." He described what the situation would be like, and I felt myself let out a sharp, short laugh in disbelief. He arched an eyebrow at me, and it was then that I slowly felt my voice come back to me. 

"That's.. Arin, that's-that's such an incredible opportunity you're giving me." I shook my head in disbelief and leaned forwards on the table, closer to him. "Are you sure I'm worth it? I'm sure there are plenty of other people  _much_ more experienced than me, and  _much_ more qualified for the jo-"

"[Y/N]," Arin cut off sternly, but his face still had the same smile from before plastered on it. "I'd be honoured to have you work with the Game Grumps. I know you've not been in the YouTube scene for very long, but we were watching some of your videos throughout the day and  _damn_ you've got talent." He laughed, and I took that as an opportunity to look down the table at all the ghostly-familiar faces. Suzy nodded with a supportive smile as she agreed with Arin, and most of the others had a smile on their face as they silently communicated with each other on the matter. 

"So?" Arin's voice pulled my attention again, and I turned back to face him. "Whaddaya say?"

"Yes!" I cried out with a laugh, the realisation hitting me full force. "I'd fucking  _love_ to come and work for you, Arin!" I heard the rest of the table burst into cheers, claps and laughter as I covered my shit-eating grin with my hands. Arin had almost the exact same expression as he gestured for me to stand up, bringing me into a bear hug at the end of the table. I felt myself laughing into his shoulder as I wrapped my arms tightly around him, feeling him comfortingly rub my back with his hand. 

It took a couple minutes for everything to die down after that, but I still couldn't help the smile on my face as I sat back down. I felt an arm wrap around my shoulders, and I turned to see Danny smiling at me. "Congrats. I can't wait to work with you." I smiled in return as he rubbed my shoulder for a second before taking back his arm. Arin coughed suggestively, then, and I turned to face him again. His expression quickly changed as he turned his focus from Danny to me, and I arched an eyebrow at him. He tapped the side of his knows, registering my confusion, and I felt myself giggle slightly. 

"So, I'd like for you to be at the Grumpspace for 9am tomorrow morning so that we can go through all the legal crap and get you started. Is that alright?" He made sure to check with me first before solidifying the plan, and I was glad since there was one issue. "9am will be fine - I'll just have to call the moving company before they close, to let them know to deliver my stuff later." Arin pressed the home button on his phone and looked up at me.   
"It's 7.30. What time do they shut?"   
"8." I replied, biting my lip. 

"Well, you can step outside and call them now if you'd like." Suzy piped up politely. "We'll be fine with that. I think some people want to order desert, anyway." She side-glanced at Ross, who proclaimed an innocent 'what?'. I giggled at that and nodded as I rose, telling them to order me a Panda Salad while I was outside.

***

I had managed to just catch the moving company as they were closing and, although I could hear the frustration in their voice, I was thankful I had. I rescheduled the delivery for between 5 and 6pm, figuring I would be home in time for that at the very latest. 

"Thank you ever so much, I appreciate it." I smiled into my phone, before the line went dead. I pressed the power button on my phone to put it in standby, clutching it to my chest as I closed my eyes. Who would have guessed that just 24 hours into California life, I would have a job offer working with the Game Grumps?  _The_ Game Grumps! I bit my lower lip and smiled with a contented sigh. 

"You alright?" A voice startled me slightly from behind, and I turned to face the culprit as I slid my phone into my bra. I saw Danny just walking out of the restaurant door, his head ducked sheepishly with a small smile on his face. I laced my hands together and placed them in front of me before nodding with a small smile. "Better than alright." I admitted, and we laughed in synchrony. 

He stopped walking once he was about two feet away from me, and I watched as he placed his hands in his jean pockets. There was a small beat of silence, before he eventually broke it. "You know, I'm kind of glad that Arin caught me watching your videos earlier." He murmured quietly, and I felt something instantly click in my mind. 

"So you're the one I have to thank for all this happening?" I questioned as I tilted my head to the side. "You showed Arin my videos. You suggested that I worked for you both." He was silent as I spoke, looking down at his shoes as he reached up a hand to scratch the back of his neck. I paused as I awaited a response. "Well?"

"Yeah, it was me." He admitted with a laugh as he dropped his hand to his side, looking up at me through his bushy brows. "I'm the one who brought up employing you, though I'm sure it would have only been a matter of time before Arin thought of it himself. You've got some talent." 

"Why?" I probed, and saw the slight confusion cross his face at my question. "Why did you suggest me?" 

"Because you've got talent." He said as if that was something obvious to the world - something I should have realised immediately. "You've got an interesting personality, and I know that you'll do great things for the Grumps." I blushed at that, and it was my turn to look away from his eyes. 

He chuckled, which got me to look back up at him. "Well, thank you." The genuine appreciation was evident in my quiet voice, and he nodded with a smile. "Now, shall we get back inside? Before Arin thinks we're up to something?" I joked, my speech ending in a small laugh, which Danny soon contributed to with his own laugh. 

"Yeah, that seems like a good idea." He grinned, stepping to the side to let me head into the restaurant first.

***

The rest of the night went just as smooth as the first half, though the atmosphere seemed to be even more lifted than before. Perhaps the question of me joining the Grumps had put pressure on them - or perhaps it was just me overanalysing things. Nevertheless, I enjoyed myself just as much. Only a handful of us had ordered desert, some opting for a coffee while some just simply didn't get anything. 

It was almost 8.15pm by the time we had all exited out of the restaurant, full of food and ready for bed. Matt and Ryan were off almost immediately, expressing they had some work they had to finish before they came tomorrow. Arin made a joke about them slacking, to which they promptly flipped him off before reversing out the carpark. 

Ross and Holly went next, wishing everybody a pleasant journey home before departing themselves. Mark, myself, Arin, Suzy, and Danny were the only ones remaining. 

"Thank you again for such an incredible night." I expressed my appreciation for perhaps the fiftieth time that night, earning a dismissive wave from Suzy and a laugh from the three men. "It was your night." Suzy smiled at me, and I felt that working with her would create a close friendship that I hadn't experienced in years.   
"Yeah, exactly." Mark agreed with her while Arin and Danny nodded. "You're our new friend. It was the least we could do to welcome you." 

"Well, just, thank you." I stammered out again, earning an eyeroll from Arin.   
"ACCEPT THE DAMN EVENING, WOMAN!" He shouted before bursting into laughter, earning a belly-laugh from me as well. I bit my lip and shook my head, deciding to stay silent rather than thanking them  _once again._

Arin gave me another one of his barehugs as we parted, Suzy gave me a squeeze around my shoulders and a passing whisper in my ear about how Arin only thinks he wears the pants. I giggled at that, earning a suspicious look from her husband. I simply shook my head before turning to wish my goodbyes to Mark - he said he would go ahead first, having to attend to Chica, and I could just follow him back home. I nodded with a smile, before assuring that I would text him some time tomorrow. 

Then it was just Danny and I, and it was then that I felt the coldness of the late night air. I shivered slightly as I turned to him, seeing that same half-smile on his face that he usually had. He gave me a hug and a kiss on my forehead, before heading to the Corsa - I had now figured out the mom-car was his, and the SUV was Arin's. "Text me when you're home and safe, alright?" He requested, and I nodded as we both climbed into our vehicles. 

He pulled out first while I just sat there, thoughts running wild, for a moment. Tomorrow, I would be starting my first day of work with the Game Grumps. And who knew what would happen from there?

I couldn't wait.


	11. Chapter 11

I managed to sleep perfectly once I had arrived home, the energetic events of the evening forcing my tired body to rest. Usually I would wake up several times a night, or couldn't sleep at all, but that night was a welcomed peaceful sleep. 

7am came around eventually, and I only knew it was 7am because the alarm on my phone had woken me from my blissful sleep. I huffed in my half-awoken state as I reached for my phone, quickly sliding the screen to the side to shut it up. I rested my head down on my pillow and closed my eyes, telling myself that I was 'just going to rest for a couple minutes'. I soon felt myself drifting into full slumber, and I had to physically throw myself up into a sitting position to ensure I was awake. That was a usual occurrence for me, as I often found I had to physically move myself in order to stay awake. 

I yawned as I climbed out of bed, grabbing my phone and taking it with me into the bathroom. I put on one of my favourite playlists and placed the phone on the window sill, turning on the taps to start my morning routine. I washed my face, cleaned my teeth, and brushed through my hair, before taking myself and my phone back into my bedroom.

I wasn't entirely sure what my first day on the job would consist of, however I imagined it would mostly be the Grumps showing me the ropes and explaining everything to me. I didn't have to dress  _too_ practical, I assumed, comfort being something I could dress accordingly to. I laid out a black and white patterned skater skirt on my bed, along with a black three-quarter-length crop top and skin coloured tights. I placed some black ankle boots next to my bed, ensuring that I had all my clothes together before I begun on my make up and hair.

I decided to do a neutral smokey eye, paired with eyeliner and full lashes, and a nude pinkish liquid lipstick. I made sure everything was set, before glancing at the time on my phone which was currently blaring MIchael Jackson's 'Billie Jean'. It was just gone 8am, and I knew that I would have to leave about 8.30 to ensure I was at the Grumpspace on time. I quickly changed into my outfit, before searching through my jewelry to grab my 'oversized-diva' sunglasses, as well as a leaf necklace. I slipped on my shoes and turned off the music on my phone before heading downstairs to grab the last of my essentials; bag, keys, money.

It was 8.28am by the time I was finally ready, and I made one last sweep of my half-desolate house before heading out the door, bag holstered on my shoulder and phone and truck keys in hand. I climbed into my truck and glanced over towards Mark's house, seeing his car was in the driveway. I wasn't sure if I expected it to be gone or not, until I realised it would make sense that it was still there; he didn't work the traditional 9 to 5 job like most Americans. His job _required_ him to do stuff inside his house, rather than at an office. I placed my phone in the hands-free holder, before starting up my truck. The music from my phone continued from when I had paused it before, and I nodded my head along to the beat as I reversed out of my drive. 

Halfway through my journey to the Grumpspace, my phone buzzed as I got a text message. I was at a red light, and I used that as opportunity to read the message. It was from Danny, and I smiled as I made my way through it.

_Hey, [Y/N]. I figured you'd be on your way to the office by now. Arin, Suzy, and I are already here, so the door should be open. Just come on in when you arrive! Can't wait to see you._

I didn't have enough time at the red light to reply, and I didn't have another opportunity throughout the rest of the journey. I figured that I'd see him soon enough, though I still felt half bad for not being able to reply. What if he thought I was ignoring him?

The same two cars from before were sat outside the Grumpspace, and I managed to find myself a space on the road besides the driveway. I shut off my car, pocketed my phone, and made my way inside.

"Knock knock!" I called through playfully as I opened the door, feeling slightly awkward if I didn't make my presence known as I entered. I pulled my sunglasses off and hooked them over my shirt as I shut the door behind me. I could hear footsteps as I made my way into the central 'living area', and was met by a tall and slender figure, almost heading face first into their chest. 

"Oh, shit!" I managed to half catch myself before I knocked them over, and I felt them cup a hand around my arm to balance me as well. I looked up and saw Danny smiling down at me, and he chuckled softly. "Sorry about that." I blushed, stepping back awkwardly as I brushed a hand through my hair. He shook his head dismissively with a smile, dropping his hand to shove it into his jean pocket. "No need to apologise, neither of us were expecting that." I smiled up at him gratefully as he politely stepped to the side and gestured to the door which led to the Grumpspace downstairs. "Thanks." I chipped, stepping in front of him as I walked down the stairs. 

"Stranger danger!" I heard a faux-high pitched scream as soon as I stepped foot into the basement, and I felt myself flinch back and instinctively raise my hands in front of my face in a defensive stance. I looked over to the centre of the room to see Arin jumping up and down on the spot, pointing at me with a scared expression on his face. "Suzy! Stranger danger!" He shouted again, and I let out a sharp laugh both of genuine comedy but also confusion. I saw Suzy roll away from the computer desk she was sat at, turning to face me. I could almost see how fed up she was with her husband's antics as she approached me, eyes almost rolling into the back of her head. "Ignore him." She shook her head, before grinning at me and giving me a hug. "Danny told him they would be recording some Mario Maker, so he's made it his mission today to make everybody's life hell since he's gonna be forced to rage." She smiled jokingly at me as she turned to her husband, one arm still wrapped comfortingly around my back.   
"Hey!" Arin pointed to her with a defensive glare. "You know that game makes me fucking mad. If I'm gonna be miserable, then everybody else can be miserable." Suzy rolled her eyes again, and I watched as Danny squeezed his way past me to wrap his own arm around his bestfriend's shoulders. 

"Oh, Arin. You know you love it really." He teased, and Arin arched an eyebrow at him.   
"Do I, Danny? Do I really?" Danny tried to keep a straight face as he looked condescendingly at Arin, but he couldn't help it as he sharply burst into laughter. His abrupt change in facial expression caused Arin to start laughing, which in turn made Suzy start laughing. As the rest of the room giggled, I couldn't help but get infected as I, too, joined in the laughing fit. 

"Oh, lord." Arin emphasised each word as he wiped away tears of joy from under his eyes. He sniffled and shook his head as he laughed one final time, before the rest of the room finally died down. "Okay, right. We have an intern to teach." He placed himself in 'business mode' as he turned to look at me, and I felt Suzy drop her arm from my back though still stood next to me. I straightened myself up as Arin looked at me, for some reason feeling instantly judged for everything I did. As much as YouTube seemed to be a more fun and 'casual' job compared to most others, I knew that it was a serious business and definitely needed some formal atmosphere when it called for it.

Suzy went back to the desk she had been working at, while Danny moved to lean against the back of the sofa with his armed folded. I took a couple steps towards the pair of them so it didn't seem like I was so far away, holding my hands in front of me. "I am ready to start, boss." I nodded with a tone in my voice that was both respective but also light-hearted. Arin made his way back to near where his wife was working hard with her headphones on, grabbing a stack of papers before heading to sit on the sofa. He gestured for me to sit besides him, placing the papers on the table in front with a pen. "That's the whole legal contract. You know, like all work shit has." He shrugged nonchalantly, and I nodded as I crossed my legs over and took the pen and paper. Danny repositioned himself so that he was sat on the arm of the sofa on my side, leaning an arm over his knee. I curled my legs up underneath me on the sofa as I leaned back, beginning the tedious yet obligatory read through the contract.

It took almost fifteen minutes to read through it all, but Danny and Arin were very patient as I took my time. Some people would assume I was nitpicking, but I knew that it was better to be safe than sorry, just in case there  _was_ anything fishy - not that these guys were the type of people to stitch me up like that. "Okay." I finally chirped, nodding once before looking to Arin with a smile. He returned it, with an arched eyebrow as he waited for my deliberation. "Everything seems perfect and in order." He nodded at that, glancing over the top of my head to look at Danny, before back at me. "You sure? There's nothing you wanna add or comment on?" I pursed my lips and shook my head, confident that I had read through the pages through enough not to dispute anything. "Nope, I'm happy with everything." I placed the stack of pages on the table, pulling myself to sit on the sofa properly. I flicked over to the front of the page, where two dotted lines sat at the bottom. On one I fluidly signed with my 'official' signature - different to the one I signed stuff related to my own YouTube channel - and the other I wrote the date.

Signing that contract made everything seem a lot more solid; that this was officially my new situation. I was about to start working with some of the most amazing names in YouTube history, and I couldn't be more thrilled about it. 

"Okay! That's amazing!" Arin seemed a lot more upbeat and less serious at that point as he scooped the contract into his hands, walking across the room to place them in their own folder within a metallic draw labelled 'GameGrumps Documents'. He turned back to face where I was sat, before pointing towards Danny. "Mr. Avidan over here can teach you the basics of the editing, since I need to sort out some more legal work. You alright with that Danny?"  
"Of course." Danny was enthusiastic in his response as he stood himself up, dusting down his jeans. "Are Matt and Ryan due in today?"  
"Um," Arin skipped over to one side of the room and skimmed a finger down what appeared to be a white board. "No, but Ross and Barry are. So, they can take her under their editing wings while we record later on." Danny must have nodded at that, or given some indication of confirmation, since Arin began made his way back over to the metal drawers and began combing through some stuff. 

"Alrighties, lovely. You ready to edit some videos?" Danny turned to me, and I nodded with a smile.   
"Definitely!" I jumped up excitedly onto my feet and followed Danny as he lead me to the side of the room with many desktops set up. 

Each one seemed to be customised somehow, with odd bits and bobs surrounding the monitors. There was, however, one completely bare one on the end, facing into the centre of the room. "This is gonna be your brand new editing station." Danny grinned, pulling out the wheely chair for me to sit in it. I looked at it for a second, biting my lower lip, before looking up at him. He nodded to the seat, insisting that I sit, which I did. I felt him push the chair closer to the desk, and I laid my arms on the armrests either side as I let out an audible 'wow'. Danny let out a subtle giggle as he pulled up a wheely chair of his own besides mine, booting the monitor up.

The Grumps used the same editing software as I did, so it wasn't going to be that difficult of a 'training' session; I would just have to get used to their editing style. 

"How's the newbie coming along?" Arin teased with a grin on his face after almost an hour, looking over the top of 'my' monitor at the pair of us. Danny had just been showing me where specific video clips were, like the end cards or opening of the videos. I looked at Danny so that he could say how well I was coming along, and he looked up at Arin. "She's great! Really great, in fact." He turned to me with a smile, before looking back to Arin. "She knows most of the stuff anyway, and she's a quick learner... You manage to get all the paperwork sorted?"  
"Oh, yeah." Arin nodded, moving around to lean on the end of the desk. "Just had to scan all the paperwork and send it to Brent so he could finalise everything. Brent's our manager, by the way." He tacked on the end, addressing me directly. I nodded, having heard the name before on previous episodes of theirs.

"What is uuuuuuuuup!" A new voice echoed from behind us, and I spun around in my chair to see Barry stepping into the basement with his arms spread open, a bag in one hand and a fully cup holder in the other. Danny and Arin chorused a joyful hello as they went to hug him as greeting, and I hesitantly teetered on the edge of my seat. I wasn't sure if we were close enough friends to greet each other in the same way they all did with each other, but at the same time I didn't wanna be rude. "Hey, Barry!" I grinned as he pulled away from Danny and Arin, and I saw him glance over at me. "Oh, hey, [Y/N]!" He beamed, carefully handing Arin what he had been holding to head in my direction. I jumped onto my feet as he embraced me in a hug, and I grinned as I rested my chin on his shoulder, him being one of the only people I had met in California thus far whom I didn't stand chest-height to. 

Once he pulled away, he headed over to where Arin was rummaging around in the paper bag Barry had handed him. "I got everyone snacks and coffee. I didn't know exactly what type of coffee you liked, [Y/N]," he turned to me as he grabbed one of the cups from the holder, handing it to me as I approached the sofa. "So I went for a mocha. I've never met anyone who  _didn't_ like mocha, so, I figured it would be a safe bet." He shrugged, and I nodded with a grin.   
"Mocha is perfect, Barry! One of my favourite's. Thank you so much, it's so sweet of you to think of me."   
"Any time, [Y/N]. You're a Grump now."

Another half hour passed before Ross arrived, and it was then that Arin and Danny could head off to record their set for today. Barry went into the separate room with them so that he could monitor the recording, while Ross stayed in the main room to help me learn and practice. He gave me a couple episodes from a session Danny and Arin had recorded a couple days ago of 'The Last Guardian', and had set me the challenge of editing them. "Are you sure?" I sought for confirmation, not entirely confident in myself to be able to take on a main recording so early into the job. Ross left out a 'pfft' in disbelief, waving his hand dismissively. "Of course. You seem to of gotten the hand of it already. Besides, I'll be right here if you want to check anything. I'll make sure you don't go completely off course." 

At one point I could hear an angry muffle coming from the recording room, and my head instantly shot up to see who had been murdered. I glanced over to see Ross shoving his hand into his mouth as he tried to muffle a laugh, and I let out a small giggle myself as I realised the two must have been playing some of Ross' levels in Mario Maker. "I'm just gonna go check-" Ross held up a finger to me, before skipping over to the recording room. The moment he opened the I could more clearly hear the angry screaming from Arin. 

"Ross, you get your stupid-ass-fucking-Australian-face out of here! I swear to God, your cheating ass is such a dick!" The door shut as Ross walked fully into the room, and I shook my head as I turned back to my computer to continue the video I was currently editing. A couple short minutes later I heard Ross coming back, less angry-muffles to be heard behind him. "They're fine!" Ross cooed over-enthusiastically, a tone that showed evidently they were  _not_ fine with what Ross had presented them with. I nodded slowly, pretending to agree with him when realistically I was trying not to burst into laughter.

Two hours later, Danny and Arin emerged from the recording studio with a rather defeated expression upon both their faces. Arin rubbed his with his hand as he approached Ross' desk, placing his other on the desk. "Ross, freaking, O'Donovan," he huffed out his words, emphasising each word. I spun around in my wheely chair to face Ross' desk, pulling my foot up to rest on the edge of my chair as I rested my arm over my knee, biting my nail with a subtle grin on my face as I watched the drama unfold. 

"You are so fucking lucky, that the laws of this state, prevent me from murdering you." Ross let out a giggle as Arin stormed away from him, slouching down on the couch besides Danny. Ross glanced at me with a look as if he was trying to get me on his side, and I promptly raised my hands up in defense. "Hey, I'm not getting involved in this." I instantly withdrew myself from the situation, spinning back around to my monitor as Barry emerged from the recording studio with some equipment that I imagined were the memory cards for the audio and screen capture from the session. He handed them to Ross, before heading over to his own desk to get a start on some editing.

2pm, and I was finally done with the editing of my set of videos. I called over Ross so that he could scan through it all, making sure I had done everything right. He was silent as he looked through the multiple videos, though nodded as he went - that was a good sign, right? He changed a couple of things about, though not as much as I was expecting. "You did well." He grinned at me as he straightened himself back up, resting his hands on the back of my chair. "Told you that you could do it. Hey, Arin!" He called over to him, and he looked up from where he was writing some stuff on a stack of papers on the couch. Ross gestured for him to come over, which he complied to. 

"[Y/N]'s a natural." Ross complimented me as he pressed 'play' on the current video that was open, showing Arin my hard work. He crossed his arms across his chest as he watched, nodding with a smile before looking at me. "Great work, [Y/N]. I knew hiring you would be a good idea." 

Arin gave me the details to the GameGrumps channel so that I could schedule the completed videos, which I did swiftly. 

"Looks like you've finished with your first day on the job." Arin pointed out a short while after as you leaned against the back of the sofa, he and Danny stood in front of you. Ross and Barry were finishing up some last pieces of editing for a different series, while Suzy had disappeared up stairs a couple hours before to record some of her own videos for her channel. "How do you feel?"

"Honestly?" I arched an eyebrow, wrapping my arms securely around my waist as I looked at the duo. "I feel fucking amazing. Coming in here this morning, everything just felt so surreal. I woke up thinking everything was a dream. But now that I'm actually here? Everything feels so much more secure and real but equally as mind-blowing." I knew I was blabbering as I shook my head in disbelief, a small laugh escaping my lips before I looked back up at them. Arin grinned at me and nodded, having an affectionate expression on his face. "Well, I'm glad we lived up to your expectations. I'll email your schedule over to you tonight, and I'll see you same time tomorrow." Arin walked up to me and outstretched his arms, and I responded enthusiastically and much more naturally than I had before. 

Arin headed over to desk opposite Ross' as Danny approached me, and I pushed myself off the sofa to stand up straight in front of him. I smiled up at him, turning myself from side to side absentmindedly. "Hey." I greeted, and he looked down at me as he shoved his hands in his jean pockets.   
"Hey. Great work for your first day." He praised, brushing a hand through his jungle of hair.   
"Thanks. I learnt from an expert." I nodded towards Arin, and Danny laughed in agreement. 

"So, I was wondering, since you're done for the day- and, I'm done, for the day," Danny seemed to stumble through his sentence as he brushed his upper arm with his hand, and I felt myself straighten naturally with his nervous nature. I was curious as to what he was about to say, but also nervous. "Do you wanna grab a bite to eat? And then perhaps I could help you with your moving stuff. You rescheduled the van arrival for this evening, right?"

I nodded, taking my phone out from my bag to glance at the time. I had three hours before the van was scheduled to arrive, which I figured would be more than enough time. I dropped my device back into my back before looking up to Danny with a smile. "Sure. I'd love that, Danny." 

"Really?" He seemed surprised as his eyes widened, before his facial expression dropped again to a more casual smile. "I mean, sure, cool! Great!" 

I shook my head with a laugh as I made sure I had all my stuff, before nodding towards the door of the basement. "Shall we?"


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really sorry that it's been a month since I last updated I am a horrible person. Show season is coming up and it's swamped me as well as bad procrastinating habits setting in and I'm just awfully sorry. as apologies I'm (planning) for this chapter to be hella long, and I'm hopefully gonna post again before the end of the week.
> 
> by the way, for reference and consistency I just assume that 'Y/N' is, like, 5ft 2, and about 110lbs.

It was still light outside - if you could call the permanent cover of clouds as 'light' - by the time we walked out of the Grumpspace and into the drive slash residential carpark. There was a very gentle breeze blowing through the air, though it wasn't quite cold enough to make me shiver. 

Walking next to Danny made me realise that even in my two-inch high boots, I was still a dwarf compared to him. I was used to being the 'short' one out of my friends, but never this short. While some would feel upset at this fact, it actually just made me giggle to myself. Danny glanced down at me with an arched eyebrow as we stepped towards the cars, and I returned the same look once I stopped giggling.   
  


"Care to share what's so funny?" He had a playful tone in his voice, one that seemed to show he didn't care whether I answered him or not. I shrugged, facing forwards as I spoke. "Just the height difference." I commented with a tilt of my head. "It's kind of comedic how short I am compared to you - dontcha think?" 

Dan shrugged slightly with pursed lips as we slowed down slightly, him leaning on the side of his car. "To be honest, I'm used to people being a lot shorter than me. Though, you are incredibly short." That comment made me gasp in slight shock as I spun around on my heels to look at him, just in time to see a wink. If it wasn't for that, I probably would have scolded him, though the playfulness in his actions proved he was only joking. I 'humph'ed, folding my arms with a defeated expression as I began to head towards my own car. Danny was smirking slightly as I turned around, before he reached out to catch the top of my arm lightly, his large hands easily wrapping around most of my skinny bicep. A fleeting spark shivered through my body upon feeling his hand on my skin, and I felt myself jump instinctively as I turned back around to face him - I just hoped he hadn't seen. 

As he began to spoke, it appeared as though he hadn't, which I was thankful of. "Why don't we just both ride in my car? It's easier and saves gas and stuff." He sounded confident enough as he spoke, but the wary smile he gave off showed his nervousness. I felt a sense of wonder inside as I noticed, wonder about why he was nervous - or what he could be nervous about. I decided that would be a thought for later, and instead thought about what he was offering. "What about getting to work in the morning?" I queried as he dropped his hand away from my arm and shoved it into his pocket. Not that I didn't mind riding with Dan, of course; it's just that I didn't fancy getting an uber, or taking the bus. I just wasn't that type of person.   
"I can pick you up in the morning?" He offered with a nonchalant shrug, still leaning casually against the side of his car. "We're both due in for 9 tomorrow, so it's not like I'd be going out of my way." 

I smiled slightly at the thought of riding to work with Danny, knowing it was a perfect opportunity to get to know him even more on a personal level rather than just a YouTube-work standard. I nodded, leaning slightly towards his car as I agreed. "Okay, sure. That sounds fine by me." Danny grinned in return, before pushing himself off the bonnet and unlocking his car. He opened the passenger side for me with a coy smile and a gentlemanly nod, and I found myself climbing into the Corsa with a polite murmur of thanks. 

After getting into the drivers seat, Danny took off with an expert reverse into the road before driving down onto the highway. It wasn't as busy as I was expecting, but then I realised that most people would still be working. We finished 'early' compared to most every-day jobs, which was one of the perks of being a YouTuber. We could work whenever we wanted, within reason. 

"So, [Y/N]." I looked over to Dan as he spoke, and saw he was still watching the road while talking to me. "What did you do in college?" He pulled up to a redlight, and used that as an opportunity to glance over to me with a small smile. I returned the smile, crossing my legs over comfortably as I replied. "I actually went to Drama School at 16." I nodded as the light turned green, and he put his focus back on the road. "I was offered a scholarship after some people over at Tisch saw one of my performances, and was put into the Undergraduates class."   
"You went to Tisch?" I could hear the disbelief in his voice, and I felt a smirk appear on my face. Despite dropping out before finishing my final year, getting into Tisch had always been one of my proudest achievements. It was a prestigious academy for all the arts, and to get a scholarship at just 16 was an even bigger privilege.

I realised Danny had been waiting for an answer, and I cleared my throat before humming in affirmation. "It was a three-year Musical Theatre course, though, I dropped out half way through the final year."  
"How come?" He seemed genuinely curious, and I glanced over to see him looking in my general direction despite still driving. I let out a small sigh, so quiet I wasn't sure if he would've heard it or not. I repeated the story that I had told Mark the morning before; how my father wanted to move back to England, and how my heart couldn't agree.

"That must've been tough." He nodded as he turned off the motorway and began heading back into the smaller, city roads. "Living permanently on your own at 18, dropping out of college, moving to a new state." He shook his head as he rounded the corner into a carpark of a place called 'Flame Broiler'. "I admire anybody who can make a name for themselves like that."

Once he pulled up into a parking space, he turned off the engine and turned to me with a comforting look. I gave him a small smile of acceptance and a nod. "Yeah, it was. Tough, I mean." I explained as we just sat outside the restaurant, talking. "I was working two jobs without a proper college education to support me, no friends and my only family 4,000 miles away. But that was life." I shrugged, slouching back in my chair as I looked dead ahead of me.

My early adulthood was a lonely time of my life, and at times I found myself regretting not moving back to England with my father and brother. But then another part of me would always wonder if I would ever be in this position if I had - with a job I loved, living in my dream city. It wasn't until I felt a gentle pressure to my shoulder that I shook my head out of the day-dreaming, and turned to look at Danny. He gave my shoulder a comforting squeeze and an understanding expression was across his face. "Don't worry, [Y/N]." His voice was lower than it had been during the journey. "Things don't have to be tough anymore. You've got friends here to support you through everything. Mark, Arin, Suzy. Me." Something seemed to glimmer in his eyes as he said 'me', and it felt like my stomach did a flip. I let myself smile, resting my hand atop of his on my shoulder, giving it a gentle rub of thanks.

After the small delay, we finally found ourselves walking into the restaurant, which was a lot more casual inside than it looked outside. It was a Korean-styled place, and instantly the luxurious flavours of the food slapped me once opening the doors. I let out a pleasant hum as I took in the scent, immediately happy with Danny's surprise choice in food. He got a table for two, and the waitress politely walked us over to a booth in the front corner of the restaurant, near the tinted windows. She gave us our menus and ordered our drinks before leaving us to deliberate on our food.

"This place smells amazing." I pointed out to Danny as I picked up the surprisingly small menu, my eyes glancing over it.   
"Yeah, the food tastes just as great." He commented as he mimicked me by picking up his menu, although by his comment I assumed he knew exactly what he was getting since he'd been here before. "Barry and I come here all the time since our place is just round the corner."

"Oh?" I arched an eyebrow teasingly as I glanced over my menu at him. "Romantic dates with Barry?" Dan dropped his menu at that comment and looked over at me with disbelief. "Hey," he began in a defensive tone, a smirk sneaking onto his lips. "Barry is a beautiful man and deserves to be showered with romantic dates." He giggled slightly at the end of his statement, and I tried to keep my face serious as I nodded in fake disbelief. "Oh, of course." I agreed before turning back to my menu with a smile.

A couple of minutes later the waitress returned with our drinks - Dan had gotten a glass of water while I had a diet coke, specifically with a straw - before taking our orders. I ordered a regular chicken meal with white rice, while Danny ordered a regular half-and-half with chicken and tofu, with brown rice. 

"Okay," I made an undignified sound as I took a spoonful of my meal, and looked over as Danny concealed his smirking mouth with his hand. "This is the best fucking food I have ever tasted." He seemed to light up at that, his posture straightening as he beamed at me.  
"For real?" He made sure, and I nodded. "I'm glad! I was worried that, since I hadn't actually asked you what you wanted, that you might of-I don't know. Hated it?" One hand reached behind his neck as he rubbed it nervously, and I shook my head with a sympathetic expression. "No, seriously, Dan. I like surprises like this, and this was an absolutely _phenomenal_ surprise." I let a toothy-grin as I tried to reassure him.

And I wasn't even lying. Living on my own for so long, I had gotten into a bad habit of just ordering junk food all the time that wasn't all that tasty but filled a hole, whether it was healthy or not. This food, not only did it taste good, but they had the slogan of 'a healthy choice'. That was better than I'd had in months.

By the time we had finished our meals, the pair of us was completely full - I hadn't even been able to finish the last of my rice, much to my dismay. It really had been delicious. The waitress had politely allowed us a few minutes after we had finished to settle, before coming over and taking our empty plates. "Can we get the bill?" Danny flashed a gleaming smile to her and she nodded. "Thanks." He said as she walked off with the plates. I cupped my hand around the bottom of my glass as I sipped the last bit of diet coke, looking across the table at Danny just as he did the same. 

"What?" I mumbled in question to his stare with some coke in my mouth before swallowing it with a giggle. He arched an eyebrow defensively. "What, you can stare at me but I'm not allowed to stare at you?" He sounded offended, but you knew he was only joking. At least, you hoped he was only joking. "I thought we were in a community that stood for equality." He went to slam his fist on the table dramatically, but slowed down the moment before impact, so that it didn't create a huge racket. I rolled my eyes at his dramatisism, before allowing him to compose himself as he continued to glare angrily at me. "You good?" I giggled as his face soften, and he nodded just as the waitress returned with our bill.

I reached into my bag that I had placed besides me and reached for my black-and-gold purse, planning on paying for my half of the meal. Upon seeing me taking out my purse, Danny clasped his hands around it and pushed it away. "Nuh-uh," he shook his head, and I looked up at him in disbelief. "This was my idea to go out, so I'm going to pay. It's the least I could do for the lady." He winked at me, and I felt myself blush, though I didn't let that stop me from arguing back.   
"I can pay for myself, Danny. Really, it's okay."  
"Nope." He took out the entirety of the bill and then some, for tip, onto the tray with the receipt. I went to replace some of the money before he caught my hand, looking at me with a stern glare. "Danny, come on, it's not like this is a date. You don't have to pay for me."   
"I'll call it a date if that means you'll let me pay for you." 

His abrupt statement made me flinch back, my hand falling to rest on the edge of the table. I hadn't been expecting him to call this a 'date' and, although a part of me knew he was just joking, one part of me also wondered if he was genuinely serious. Danny just smirked as the waitress came to take the money, and I was unsure if he was smirking at having won the battle or at my reaction. 

Eventually we both found ourselves exiting the restaurant, wishing a polite 'goodbye' to the workers as we passed. It was about 4pm, which meant I had an hour until the moving van could potentially arrive. I figured we'd be heading to my place after climbing into Danny's car, so I took out my phone to use a GPS to get back. I knew where my house was, obviously, but I wasn't entirely sure where this restaurant was in relation to that. "Hey, is it alright if I bluetooth my GPS to your car?" I asked Dan as he began reversing out of the carpark. "Not just yet," Danny shook his head as he drove down the town roads as opposed to the highway. I furrowed my brows in confusion as he glanced momentarily over at me with a wink. "Got one more surprise for you. As long as that's okay?" He seemed to backtrack at the last minute, his voice changing from confident to concerned. I shook my head quickly so to reassure him. "No, that's fine! As long as we're back by, like, 5?" I said warily, not wanting to ruin any of his plans.   
"5 is fine by me. This place is only about a ten minute drive away."

And he was right; it was a very quick journey, even quicker since there was barely any traffic - though I'd expect that when we headed to mine that it would be full of traffic, what with people beginning to finish work. I noticed that we were in Koreatown of Los Angeles, and I smiled slightly at the continuation of the Korea-theme. Dan seemed to be very cultured, or at least open to exploring the culture.

We pulled up to a rather modern looking building, a huge sign across the top of it half in green and half in silver. "Chocolate Chair?" I said, confused, as Dan pulled up into a parking space before cutting off the engine. He turned to me with a look of disbelief, and I leaned back slightly, wary. "You've never heard of Chocolate Chair?" His tone of voice matched his expression, and I shook my head slowly. "Dragon Breath Ice Cream?" He listed another phrase that I had never heard of in my life, and I found myself laughing slightly. "Dragon, Breath, Ice Cream?" I repeated in confusion, and he shook his head as if he was ashamed in me.   
"[Y/N], my dear, uncultured, [Y/N]." He patronised me as we climbed out of the car, and I scoffed in mock offense.   
"I am not uncultured! I'm just new to California, okay? Leave me out of this." I crossed my arms with a pout as Dan lead us inside the ice cream joint.

The inside was just as modern-looking as the outside, and looked completely pristine with its entirely-white theme. White menu signs, white walls, white chairs, white counters, white-and-glass tables. It looked beautiful, in all honesty, and I was already excited. The room was chilly, especially so for an Ice Cream Parlour, and I noticed some rather large and out-of-place signs at the cash register. 

"Liquid Nitrogen?" I murmured allowed to Danny, looking up to see him nod with a smile. "They fucking make their ice cream with Liquid Nitrogen? That's fucking rad!" I beamed, looking around at the half-busy parlour. "I knew you'd like it." I heard Danny boast confidently from beside me, and I rolled my eyes as we joined the line.

We ended up getting a large cup of their signature 'Dragon's Breath' Ice Cream. I also got two scoops of Cappuccino-flavoured Ice Cream, while Danny got Pecan and Pistachio. I went to pay for my own half once again, but was teasingly reminded by Danny as he said "I thought I told you this was a date?" with a playful wink. That instantly shut me up, and I put my purse back into my bag as I tried to turn away and conceal my blush.

We found a place to sit outside on the fake grass, since it was a nice day, sitting across from each other. I was small enough to cross my legs, smoothing down the skirt over my legs while Dan tumbled down onto the grass rather ungracefully, his long limbs appearing to stretch as far as they could. I sat facing him while he sat facing my left, his legs stretched out in front of him as he leaned back on one arm.

"Care to kick this Ice Cream-portion of our date off with your first try of Dragon's Breath?" He sat the cup in front of me with the wooden stick it was to be eaten with. I grinned, taking the cup and one stick as he sat up properly, taking his phone out of his pocket. 

"Are you recording me?" I accused as I wrapped my fingers around the freezing-cold cup. He shrugged nonchalantly, looking up from his phone to look at me.   
"Think of it as a memory for you. Your first taste of Korean-dessert culture." He grinned, and I rolled my eyes. "Go ahead." He motivated, and I assumed he was filming. 

I stabbed one of the balls in the cup with the wooden stick, before popping it into my mouth. It tasted slightly fruity, but other than that it was just really cold. "Breath out!" Danny urged, and I looked into the camera as I did as he said, smoke slowly spilling out. "Holy fucking shit!" I laughed in delight and looked down at the cup, covering my mouth as I ate the ice cream-ball. Dan giggled from behind the camera, and I looked up at him and his phone. "That was so cool!" I grinned, before Danny lowered his phone as he stopped recording. 

I traded him the Ice-Cream cup for his phone, allowing him to eat some of it while I watched the video. I cringed quietly to myself as I did so, always having a problem with watching myself back on videos. You'd think after a year or so of YouTube that I'd be used to it - but that wasn't the case. The video itself wasn't cringey - the soft light from the sun lit my person up rather nicely - it's just that  _I_ was cringey. 

"Send that to me." I smiled to Dan as I handed back his phone, and he nodded as he began to type something.   
"What's your Instagram name?" He asked, looking up from his phone as he popped another ice cream-ball into his mouth and handing the cup to me. I told him it, and he nodded before typing something else into his phone. 

As if on cue, I felt four separate buzzes from my phone in my bag, and I took it out curiously to see what it was. I opened Instagram to see three new followers - gamegrumps, ninjasexparty, and danny__avidan, as well as a tagged comment in something. Turns out, Dan had posted the video of me trying the ice cream onto his personal account, captioning it with "Ice Cream Date!!!" followed by my Instagram. I looked up at Danny in disbelief, seeing him just eating his nut-ice cream. "Dan!" I whined in a high-pitched voice, and he looked at me with such innocence, as if he didn't know what he had did. "I told you to send it to me, not let your whole fanbase see it!"  
"What?" He continued to act innocent as he took a spoonful of ice cream into his mouth. "It's just a video. I post stuff about my friends all the time."  
"Yeah," I rolled my eyes. "But they don't know me. Call it a 'date' and they'll assume we're dating." Danny just shrugged, not making a big deal out of it.   
"Our fans aren't  _that_ wild, [Y/N]. They'll know it's just a joke. And if anybody takes it too far, then I'll take it down. Okay?" His eyes seemed to speak for his genuineness as he spoke, reaching over to place a comforting hand on my knee. I nodded, telling myself that I was just overreacting. 

 _You're just friends, [Y/N]._ I told myself.  _You've got nothing to be scared about._


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologise for disappearing the past two-three weeks; it was show week at my theatre and I was flooded with both rehearsals and the actual show with absolutely no time to myself since about February 25th. But I am back, and my schedule is a lot more calmer once again. Thank you for all the hits and the kudos while I was gone, it really did keep my motivation and determination going.

Dan and I spent the next twenty minutes sat blissfully on the grass as we ate our ice cream, talking about anything and everything that came to us. A part deep inside of me was still silently freaking out as I realised I was talking to one of my idols, but for the most part I was beginning to learn that he - and all my other new found friends - were just as normal as the rest of us. He was just a thirty-something year old dude obsessed with music, and I was just a twenty-something year old girl who just so coincidentally happened to be obsessed with the same thing.

"This was, for real, some of the best ice cream I've ever had." I beamed up at Danny once I finished my final Cappuccino-flavoured scoop, while he seemed to finish a little before me. "I may have to officially steal this place as one of my new hotspots. And that swanky Korean place." Dan just chuckled at my statement as he collected our rubbish, walking a couple paces away to throw it in the nearest bin. He came back dusting down his jeans of any non-existent blemishes. He politely held is hand out to me, and I took it to help with rising to my feet. I found myself doing the same dusting action to the back of my skirt, despite the fact I knew we were sat on fake grass and no real stains would have been left.

The sun had slowly begun its descent from its height in the sky, though I knew it wouldn't be dark for at least another hour or so. Dan and I made our way out to his car as I quickly noted down the two food joints we'd visited that day on my phone, planning on following through with visiting them both one day soon. 

"You know," Danny started as we both climbed into his car, "it's super refreshing to go out with someone other than my typical friends." He revved the engine and reversed onto the road, and I saw as his face faltered slightly before he backtracked on his statement. "Not that I don't love those guys - I fucking adore them! It just feels like it's been a while since I've met anyone knew. You get me?" He sneaked a glance towards me as he slowed down behind a learner driver, and I met his eyes with an understanding nod. Besides from any random people I met in my daily life, like the Barista at Starbucks or the person who checked my tickets at the cinema, I couldn't really remember the last time I met someone and solidly spoke to them, getting to a point I could genuinely call them a 'friend'. 

I gave Dan the address to my place once we got onto the main highway, and he seemed to know where he was going without a GPS. I shrugged to myself, figuring that he knew the general lay of the land around Glendale. There was a peaceful silence between us as he drove, and I thought it should have been awkward, yet somehow it was not. It was just as I said - peaceful. I used this time to check my emails on my phone, not having the opportunity to since my break earlier at work. I had an email from the moving company which said they would arrive with my stuff at the back of five, and I glanced to the time. It was 4.45, which gave us just enough time to get there. 

"That one there." I pointed to the one with the jutting-out roof as we turned the corner onto my road. He parked expertly on my drive, and I thanked him as we both climbed out. I heard Dan whistle from behind me as I approached the front door, and I turned with a curiously arched brow. He smiled at me with a slight shrug. "Pretty big house for such a small soul." He teased, and I found myself rolling my eyes as I opened the door.   
"I'll let that short joke pass, Danny the Friendly Giant." I shot back with my own height-joke, and head a short snort come from him as he entered, shutting the door behind him. "But you're right, it is pretty big." I turned to face him as I dropped my bag and other miscellaneous items to the side of the door. "I think it was, like, advertised as a four-bedroom? But obviously I'm only using one." Danny seemed shocked at the fact one person could live in a four-bedroom house, and I gestured for him to follow me into the kitchen as I continued to explain. 

"I'm a pretty high-maintenance person, in all honesty." I laughed as I pulled one of the stools out from the kitchen island to motion for him to sit. "I like a lot of expensive, large, equipment. And I like things being in their own place." I turned around to face him, leaning my back against the kitchen counter with my arms folded. "One bedroom is for music equipment and music-based content, one is for recording my letsplays, and the other is just kind of for anything. Maybe a chill-out room or something." I shrugged, biting my lower lip as I realised how much of an air-head I must have appeared to him. I was a twenty-six year old girl living in a four-bedroom house all on my own, talking about how OCD I was. I silently prayed that he wasn't judging me too harshly, though my doubtful instincts knew that wasn't the case. 

"That's pretty sweet, [Y/N]." He nodded as he perched himself on the edge of the stool, angling it to face me. "I've always been much of the same, just not as 'high-maintenance'." He must have seen my expression change as he said that, because he lifted his head and waved his hands dismissively. "Not that that's a bad thing! No, of course not! I just don't care too much if I have the most expensive equipment. If it's decent, and does it's job, then I'm okay with it." He offered a comforting smile. "But I do like having different rooms for different things. A studio for recording music, a studio for editing. That kind of stuff." 

My nerves settled a little better as he admitted he was at least somewhat similar to me in that sense, and I felt my shoulders relax as I got more comfortable around him. 

"I would offer you tea or something, but I'm pretty barren." I outstretched my hands pointedly to my untouched kitchen, having no equipment to make any sort of hot drinks. "I can pour you a glass of averagely cold tap water?" I offered feebly, and he laughed with a nod.   
"Water's fine, thank you." 

I let the cold tap run for a little built to make it colder, cleaning two glasses before filling them both up and sliding one over the countertop to Danny. He murmured a thanks before taking a sip, placing it in front of him while wrapping his too-large hands around the tiny glass. 

We spoke for another ten minutes or so before a knock called for my attention. "That must be the moving van." I placed my almost-empty glass behind me as Danny stood to his feet, and I looked at him pointedly. "Ready to put those oh-so muscley arms into action and move a billion boxes?" I teased, and he scoffed at me.   
"Puh-lease, you're not ready to see the strength behind these." He lifted up his right arm and flexed, showing the smallest bit of muscle. I bit my cheek to hold back a laugh, instead opting to just shake my head and walk away - for his sake, to save his ego.

Opening the door, I saw the same two men who had collected my stuff from back in Illinois. One of them grinned upon seeing me, while the other appeared to have begun unloading the van. "Miss [Y/L/N]?" The one at the door said, a clipboard in hand. I nodded with a smile, and he handed me the the wooden slate which appeared to have a paper with a list on it. With one glance, I realised it was the entire list of all the stuff I had given them to transport, and I thanked him before putting it next to the door so I could mark items off once I saw them. 

With four people - the two workers, myself, and Danny -  the whole process took a lot less time than I had anticipated. Within twenty minutes, all of the boxes had been moved from the van and placed into my living room. I did one final comparison between the boxes and the checklist, before I was satisfied that everything was there. I thanked the workers one final time before they went on there way, leaving Danny and I alone in my centre room with a dozen or so boxes flooding with items. 

"You weren't kidding when you said high-maintenance." Danny commented with a wink, showing me he was only joking and the statement wasn't meaning to cause any harm. I childishly stuck my tongue at him, and he retaliated with the same action. I laughed, crouching down besides one of the boxes to begin sorting them into different rooms. I felt Danny lower down besides me as well, and I looked over to see him examining the box in front of him. "They all should be labelled." I turned around the box in front of him, and pointed to the black writing saying 'kitchen'. "There's kitchen, bedroom, bathroom, living room, spare room, studio, and gaming. Just put them all into groups and we'll move them as we go." 

It took another ten minutes to get all of the boxes into there designated rooms, though I had forgotten that there was a couple miscellaneous boxes that were unnamed. I decided to just put them in the spare room, since most of them were video games and of the like. By then, it was 6pm, and the sky outside was almost completely black. I laughed to myself slightly as I tore my gaze away from the window in the spare room, silently praying for the summertime to return. At least then it didn't get dark until at least 8 o'clock. 

I heard a noise coming from the room over, and I travelled the couple of steps to peak inside. Danny was there, setting down the last of the box in the music studio, and I saw him gazing into a couple of the boxes. I leaned against the doorframe and watched him marvel at the equipment, a slight sense of joy in my stomach. I knew that my equipment was good; I liked having the best of the best. But nobody had ever seen my set up, and it was nice to see someone else admire it. 

I coughed slightly to get his attention, and his head instantly shot up to look at me. He seemed both startled and apologetic, but I just smiled at him. "Sorry," he rose from the box and pointed at it. "I didn't mean to snoop or anything. I just saw that you had a freakingNeumann TLM-102, and I just  _had_ to take a look at it."   
"You really know your shit." I commented with a grin as I pushed myself out of the doorway and into the room, crouching down to the box he had brought in with him. "If you help me get this stuff set up, then perhaps I'd let you have a little play around with it." His eyes seemed to light up at that, and I wondered what type of equipment he was used to. I knew that for recording Ninja Sex Party stuff he went to a professional recording studio, but I didn't know if he had any home equipment. "I'd do fucking anything to use the  _Porsche-equivalent of Microphones._ " I laughed at that comparison with a nod, being fully aware that that was one of the nicknames the brand was given in the music industry. "Well," I nodded, beginning to empty the different boxes. "Get your ass to work." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was thinking perhaps finding a beta to help with this work, as 99% of the time I never have enough time to check chapters over and just publish them as soon as they're complete. So a beta would help. If anyone is interested then feel free to message me about it, and I'll continue to think on the idea. Thanks! Also I know this is a pretty boring chapter but sometimes it just happens. I'll update later in the week with something more exciting to make up for it.


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have been neglecting this story and I am awfully sorry for that. In the same amount of time I have written three chapters for my TMI fanfic, I haven't uploaded anything for this. I have been without motivation for this fanfic which upsets me more than it upsets you since I have been so wanting and exciting for this story since before it even started. I hope you are not mad at me, and I will try to write for this story when I feel even the smallest glimmer of motivation. It is better than nothing.

It took almost an hour until we were able to get the entire studio set up, minus the soundproof foaming. I decided I could do that at a later date, since it could potentially take a while. I was sat at the computer we had set up, on a spinny chair, finishing up the configuration between the software and the hardware. I could feel Danny lingering behind me, his attention absorbed on the equipment. 

"How could you afford all this?" He sounded utterly bewildered, and I turned around in my chair to look at him. His facial expression matched his tone of voice. "This entire room must cost at least three grand." I felt my cheeks heat up as he looked at me as he spoke, and I couldn't help but feel self conscious. Did he think I was some spoilt rich kid? Was he judging me? I hated to think if that was the case, but it was entirely plausible. 

"I saved up a lot for years." I nodded, pulling my legs up to cross them on the spinny chair. "I was in love with music for almost my entire life. When I moved from New York to Illinois, it was the first time I had a proper job. I was a Starbucks cashier for two years, then a dance teacher for five. The cashier gig was barely enough to keep me surviving, but the dancing paid incredibly well." Dan had moved to lean against the desk with his arms crossed, listening intently to my story. He seemed genuinely interested, which made me more relaxed as I continued. "I was living in a decently priced house on my own with minimal bills, not much of an external life, yet I was getting $30,000 a year. So, I decided to invest in a hobby. Music producing." I shrugged to all the equipment in the room, letting out a small sigh as I relived the memories. 

Dan seemed to nod in understanding, his lips pursed thoughtfully. "I get that. You've had five years to gather all this stuff. And it's an impressive collection, I've got to admit." He stood himself up straight, turning to the mixing deck, sliding a couple of the switches up and down absentmindedly. I smiled to myself as I watched him, being able to physically see his desire to work with the equipment. 

I cleared my throat, putting my feet back on the floor before pushing away to the other side of the room, grabbing two sets of headphones. "How about we give it a little test run?" I offered, outstretching my hand to him in which sat a pair of headphones. "See if it's working properly." Danny looked at me with disbelief, and I wiggled the item in my hand teasingly with a grin. He chuckled, taking them gingerly out of my hand before wrapping them around his neck professionally. 

* * *

As soon as we started playing around with the equipment, I could sense a change in the atmosphere. Danny seemed more at home, completely ecstatic to be working with some of the best equipment in the business. I found myself enjoying working with him, and what started as a playful mess around eventually turned itself into a full song-writing session. 

"I've had these lyrics stuck in my head for weeks, now." Danny had said, explaining how he had wanted to use them in a song for ages, except they weren't suitable for either Ninja Sex Party nor Starbomb. I had offered a second option - for us to compose a piece together, using his lyrics, giving him another platform to express himself on. He seemed entirely eager at that idea, no hesitation in his voice as he thanked me constantly for the opportunity. 

By now, it was almost midnight, and time had flown past faster than either of us could comprehend. We had been working for almost five hours, though at one point we did have a break to make and eat some grilled ham and cheese toasties at around nine.

I had my headphones wrapped around my neck as I sat at the computer, editing some stuff together, while Danny returned with two bottles of water before planting himself on a second chair we had brought up. I grinned in thanks as he gave me one of the bottles, taking a sip before placing it on the windowsill, far away from the electronic equipment.

"How are we looking?" Danny leaned forwards, resting an arm across the back of my chair as his eyes planted on the screen in front. I nodded with a slight smile, biting my lower lip as I concentrated on adjusting some of the last final levels.

"I think the first draft is done!" I clapped my hands together excitedly, turning to see his expression matching how I felt inside. He wrapped an arm around me and pulled me into a tight embrace, and I returned the hug enthusiastically with a giggle, before turning to the computer. "Shall we listen to it?" I questioned eagerly, and he nodded frantically with excitement.

**(DISCLAIMER: All lyrics remain property of Cole Porter's 'Easy to Love', and 'De-Lovely'. Lyrics have been mixed together for creative purposes)**

_You'd be so easy to love,_  
_so easy to idolize all others above._  
_So worth the yearning for;_  
_so swell to keep every home fire burning for._

_And we would be so grand at the game,  
_carefree together that it does seem a shame_  
_that you can't see your future with me._  
_'Cause you'd be, oh, so easy to love.__

Danny's gentle voice was so warm and welcoming as it echoed from the speakers surrounding the entire room, I felt myself relaxing back into my chair. His voice was so pure that I could find myself potentially falling asleep to it.

 _The night is young, the skies are clear,_  
_so if you want to go walking, dear,_  
_it's delightful, it's delicious, it's de-lovely._  
_I understand the reason why  
_ _you're sentimental, 'cause so am I._

My own voice then filled the room, and I heard myself audibly gasp in surprise as I barely recognised the higher-pitched voice in comparison to Danny's. We had worked on the editing together, Dan working some of his own magic on the piece, and it created a completely different feel to the song.

_So please be sweet, my chickadee,_  
_and when I kiss you, just say to me,  
_ _"It's delightful, it's delicious,  
_ _It's de-lovely"._

The song began to slow down as it neared its end, and I felt my eyes close as I relaxed into the final few bars, relishing in the closing moments as both mine and Danny's voices began to sing in perfect harmony.

_And we would be so grand at the game,_  
_carefree together that it does seem a shame_  
_that you can't see your future with me._  
_'Cause you'd be, oh, so easy to love._

I smiled to myself as I remained in my relaxed position for a few more seconds after the end of the song, before letting out a contented sigh and opening my eyes. I reached over to the computer to stop the track from continuing, turning to Danny to hear his opinion on the piece.

My words were immediately caught in my throat as my eyes caught a glimpse of Dan's, which appeared to be staring directly into my soul. His expression was soft with his lips parted, and I couldn't help but glimpse down at them. I felt myself blush, glancing back up at his eyes to see him slowly leaning in. The moment his lips touched mine, I let out a breathe that I didn't realise I was holding in, melting into his kiss. 

Danny's lips were gentle and soft against mine, and I leaned into his body as I felt one of his hands place itself firmly on my waist while the other slid into grip the hair at the nape of my neck. My own hands slid up his chest and latched around the back of neck, pulling his head down closer to mine. He nibbled incessantly at my lower lip, begging for entrance, which I happily gave. I felt his tongue slip into my mouth, resulting in a seductive moan escaping my lips. I heard Dan's breath hitch, before he reluctantly tore his lips away from my own. 

Both our breaths were heavy and uneven as Dan rested his forehead against mine, his eyes closed. I continued to stare at him as I concentrated on my breathing, sliding my hands to cup his cheeks gently. My thumbs rubbed soft circles on his cheek bones as I waited for him to open his eyes, which took an immeasurable amount of time. 

"I'm- I'm sorry." Dan stammered once he looked at me, though his grip didn't loosen. "I didn't plan for that to happen. At least, not yet. I didn't mean to take advantage of you. I'm really so-" I cut him off quickly by placing a finger across his lips, closing my own eyes as I took in the current situation.

"You have nothing to be sorry about, Danny." I assured him with a shake of my head, opening my eyes once again to look at him. "You didn't take advantage of me. I swear. Everything is okay." Danny seemed to smile at that, though I felt him release me from his grip, slowly pulling away from our close embrace.  

"It's getting late." Danny's voice seemed strained as he spoke, and he cleared his throat afterwards. I nodded slowly, still slightly stunned from our previous positioning. I turned to the computer to save the piece we had just created, double saving it onto a second drive to ensure that it wouldn't be lost. They had worked too hard for something bad to happen to it. 

I stood myself up from my chair, pushing it under the desk, and turning to Danny. It was 12.30 at night, and I knew it would be too late for Danny to drive back alone. "Why don't you stay here for the night?" I offered shyly, wrapping my arms around my torso. "I wouldn't feel right if I let you drive home in the middle of the night. Who knows what could be out there." 

"[Y/N], I've driven plenty of times late at night - even later than this." Dan began to reason with her, looking down at me with a look of slight disbelief. His eyes seem to be mesmerized on mine, and I suddenly felt self conscious - as if he was staring right into my very being. "Alright, I'll stay the night. It makes driving to work in the morning easier anyway." He admitted, and I nodded with a smile, before making my way past him to grab him some blankets and pillows.

Half an hour later, I was dressed in some grey sweatpants and a white tank shirt, heading downstairs to find Dan loitering about in the living room. "Hey." I smiled, catching his attention. He returned the expression with a nod as he saw me, and i looked him up and down subtly. He didn't exactly bring any pyjamas with him, so he was still in his shirt and jeans from during the day. I felt slightly bad that he would have to sleep in and wear those clothes tomorrow, before reminding myself that there was nothing else I could do. 

I made my way over to him, handing him two large blankets and a couple of spare pillows I had brought with me during the move. One of the covers was a plain white blanket, while the other was a purpleish crocheted blanket. He took them gratefully, putting them on the sofa before looking up at me. I crossed my arms across my chest awkwardly, pulling a strand of hair behind my air as we just looked at each other. 

"I'm gonna head to bed." I was the first to break the silence, and he just nodded. "If you need me, you know where my room is. Feel free to help yourself to any drink or food if you wake up in the middle of the night." It felt slightly silly to be saying this stuff, though I had never really known the etiquette for what to do when a friend who had just kissed you was sleeping over but in a non-sexual way. I let the thought go as I nodded one final time with an awkward smile, turning to walk back up the stairs.

"[Y/N]," Danny's voice caught my attention as my first foot was on the step, and I turned to face him. "Sleep well. I'll be down here if you need me." I smiled at that offer, realising he sounded like me with his words. It was funny, considering it was my house, yet comforting.

"You too, Danny. See you in the morning." It was already 1am, but that was irrelevant. I turned once again to face the stairs, heading up to get a few hours rest before a long day of work. 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reviews really help motivate me, believe it or not. In one week of my TMI fic I've gotten 7 reviews, which has really motivated me to write more. If you let me know how you're liking the story, or have any ideas for how you want things to go, then chances are I will want to write more. So, please, review. Thank you.


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